I Never Gave Up
by angelstarshine
Summary: AU. It's been three years since Hogwarts, and Lily Evans' life is going great. But then, she is told that James Potter is going to be her new boss. The big problem? Lily still hates James, while he is still infatuated and crazily in love with her.
1. A Not So Perfect Graduation

**Hey again! So, this is my sixth story. Frankly, I'm quite disappointed at the number of reviews I got for On the Verge of Nothingness. I thought I would get at least five, since my friends thought it was pretty good. Oh well. Anyway, here's another humor fic that'll hopefully interest you. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing expect some characters you might not recognize.

Chapter 1

A Not so Perfect Graduation

Soft music started playing, and the audience's chatter dimmed as the seventh year students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry entered the Great Hall, their midnight black robes billowing behind them, led by Professor McGonagall. It was finally graduation time!

The students took their seat and the ceremony began.

"Dear parents and friends, I present to you this years graduates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Dumbledore began, motioning towards the students. He gave his speech, and when he was done, polite applause was heard.

Then, McGonagall stood up and one by one, the magic diplomas were given. Finally, after the audience had settled down, Professor McGonagall stepped to the podium. She adjusted the microphone and began to say, "My dear audience, a pleasant good morning. Now, without further ado, I am pleased to announce this year's Valedictorian and Salutatorian, who are both from Gryffindor! Now, for this yea's Salutatorian, I give you, Head Boy and Quidditch captain, Mr. James Michael Potter!"

James stood up and walked up to the stage, a pleasant smirk on his face, ignoring the sighs of the many seventh years in the crowd as applause filled the room. He accepted his diploma, and a medal with a genuine smile, then, sat down on the stage chairs set for the valedictorian, salutatorian, and teachers.

Finally, Professor McGonagall said, "I am personally honored to present this year's Valedictorian. A true Gryffindor, she has shown loyalty, kindness to everyone, and bravery to the school, not to mention being the smartest witch in her year. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Ms. Lily Elizabeth Evans!"

A tremulous applause was heard as Lily walked up on stage, her dazzling and happy smile showing, her auburn hair shinning in the afternoon sun. Dumbledore presented her with her diploma and medal, smiling. She then stepped into the podium.

She adjusted the magical microphone, cleared her throat discreetly, and began her Valedictory address.

"My dear family and friends, good morning. I stand here in front of you today, to deliver a message to all you, especially to my fellow graduates. When I first came here, I felt so doubtful of myself, so anxious that I wouldn't fit in. But through the years of my schooling here, I, and the rest of my classmates, learned, not only magic, but many values as well that we may carry on to the future. I have become stronger, braver because of the many trails that have come my way, especially with the issue of racism that is rampant in this school"- she sent the Slytherins a look before continuing-. "So now, as we journey towards------"

"If I may speak, Ms. Evans," James suddenly interrupted, his usual lopsided grin present on his features. Lily looked taken aback, but recovered right away. The audience started whispering.

"James, sit down," McGonagall hissed sharply.

Lily interjected to her, turning away from the microphone and stepping down, "Oh no, Professor. Let him say what he wants to. After all, he is the salutatorian. The _second_ smartest in the year. He must be given some time to say something. Mr. Potter, you have the floor,"

"Thank you, Ms. Evans" James said as he walked toward the podium. If he could have seen his parents in the crowd, he would have seen his mother burying her face in her hands, and his father grinning as he knew about what James was about to do.

He lightly cleared his throat and began. "Thank you, Ms. Evans, for that enriching and enlightening, not to mention, BORING, speech. But that's just the speech, I'm not talking about the person who's delivering it. Anyway, you might be wondering why I'm here in front of you and looking like a complete idiot. But let me explain. You see, I just want this last opportunity to say this, before we part ways. Ms. Evans here is the smartest, most wonderful girl in the world. She deserves this award, definitely. And even though she ruins my pranks with Snape, and can be a real pain since she's so bossy- sometimes- she's still great! And even though there are times when she looks like frog spawn with a red mop on her head, she still looks beautiful!"

Lily had enough. She was going redder by the second; she could not believe that he had interrupted her very well written and well though out speech just for that. She stood up and walked over to James and said with an irritated physiognomy, "Listen Potter, this is absolutely not appropriate for this occasion, so out!"

James merely pretended to ignore her as he said, "Furthermore-------"

He didn't get to finish because, in her anger, Lily pushed him off the podium and stepped up there herself. The audience was laughing now, everyone, including the teachers. Lily finished her speech in vain and quickly stepped off the stage.

Finally the festivities were over and the students went to their dormitories to change into Muggle clothing for they were about to leave Hogwarts once and for all.

After, they all waited outside for the train, still talking about the graduation. Lily found James lazily leaning on a tree, cool as you please, as if nothing had happened, eating an apple and apparently alone.

She walked over to him and said angrily, "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"Me? Did I do anything wrong?" James asked, genuinely baffled.

"Damn right you did! I can't believe you embarrassed me in front of my friends, my family, the entire seventh year population, not to mention------"

"Oh come on, Evans," James said. "I thought what I did was sweet. My dad and Sirius thought it was sweet too, since they suggested me to do it. Hey, Sirius even wrote the whole speech for me".

"And that would explain why your father and Sirius were laughing their heads off as you spoke earlier? Tell me Potter, why on earth would you listen to something Sirius would say?" Lily said dryly.

Comprehension dawned on James's face. "Those two tricked me! Sirius is so gonna get his ass kicked later" he said to himself. To Lily he said, "So, after everything, now that we're officially out of Hogwarts, will you go out with me?"  
Lily smacked him upside the head. "Really Potter, are you just so bloody dense or did you become like this by hanging around Sirius so much? After that stunt you pulled earlier, the chances of me ever going out with you have become negative. Thank goodness I'm leaving, because now, I'll finally get away from you!" Lily half-shouted the last part and stormed off to find her friends, leaving behind a slightly hurt James.

His friends joined him a while later and he smacked Sirius upside the head for tricking him, his disappointment gone. Finally, the whistle sounded and they al got inside the train. As Hogwarts Express led them further from Hogwarts and across the countryside, every student felt that they were taking the next big step in their lives.


	2. Three Years Later

**Wow! Thank you a million times over to all the people who read and reviewed this story. I can't believe I got ten reviews just for the first chapter! Thank you for thinking that this story has potential and….okay, before I cannot control my hand anymore from typing a useless babbling, here's chapter 2. Hope you like it! Happy New Year to ya'll!**

**Disclaimer:** I won nothing except a few characters you don't recognize.

Chapter 2

Three Years Later………

Lily, now 20 years old, occasionally tapped her quill in time to the music the magical stereo was paying that was installed in her office as she read a random report from one of her officemates.

Suddenly, the door opened and Jeremy Lewis, her boss and one of her friends, walked in.

"Don't you knock?" Lily asked him.

"No. Anyway, you don't seem to mind" Jeremy replied, lightly running his hand over his brown hair.

Before she could reply, the door opened once more and Kelsey Rivers, her other officemate and friend, walked in. "Hey Lils, hey Jeremy. Listen, Lily, you have a client meeting at around 1 pm, at the Shermont Café, that's up at Cloves Street( still in the wizarding world). He wants to discuss matters with you as soon as possible. He wouldn't tell me his name though,"

Lily nodded as she pulled her hair into a simple ponytail. You see, Lily, after graduating Hogwarts, now worked at the Department of Wizarding Law (I just made up a new department, since I can't think of any other job for them. This will be relevant though). She was now known as one of the top-notch wizarding lawyers in England, what with her intelligence and sharp wit and eloquence.

Jeremy, after a few minutes of animated discussion, exited, saying he had to meet the Minister for a short meeting. Kelsey left as well, leaving Lily to prepare for her meeting with this seemingly elusive client.

..------..

"YOU?" Lily exclaimed, shock and disbelief written on her face as she arrived at the café and faced her client, sitting lazily in his seat, looking supremely unconcerned.

For her client for her new case was none other than Sirius Black.

"Lily, great to see you again!" Sirius said cheerfully as he got out of his seat and pulled up Lily's chair for her. Once she had sat down, he did the same. He and Lily had kept up correspondence over the years, but they had never met up formally again until now, even if Sirius was working in the Ministry as well.

"Since when did you become a gentleman?" Lily questioned him, her brow raised, slowly recovering from her shock.

"Since Remus and Chelsea warned me to act nicer and more, what was the word..? Oh yeah- vastly mature and un-siriuslike- to you or they'd take away Mr. Snuffles," Sirius said, looking quite horrified at the prospect of this.

Chelsea Leonards was Sirius's long-time girlfriend (I know, hard to imagine, right?). She was also Lily's close friend.

"And since when have you ever actually followed Remus' and Chelsea's advice?" Lily asked. Then she paused and frowned. "Wait, you mean to tell me that Mr. Snuffles is still with you? I thought I threw him in the Black Lake in seventh year because you spread the word about that-" she made a noise of distaste as she said, or rather, spat the next word- "-incident- that happened during Christmas".

"And I still cannot forget how mercilessly you threw my beloved Bear into the cold, black lake, screaming and cackling like an evil, heartless witch, so cruel, and so vile! Really Lily, just because I told everyone that you and James accidentally kissed during Christmas didn't mean that you had to throw out one of my prized possessions!" Sirius said dramatically.

"Shut up!" Lily hissed at him, her eyes firing, and her temper rising a bit, her face slowly beginning to compliment her hair. "Will you keep your voice down, someone might hear you! I don't want anyone to know that Potter's lips touched mine, accidentally or not, ever, understood? I still can't forget that you "conveniently" left out the part where I slapped him afterwards". Then she took a deep breath and continued, "And I wasn't cackling like an evil maniac when I did that, you were the one who was howling like a crazy idiot! And what's more, how the hell did you manage to get that wretched teddy bear out of the lake?"

"Let's just say my charm extends beneath and above land," Sirius said arrogantly.

"Potter got the bear out for you, didn't he?"

"Yes, fine, so James got it out for me. But who cares? I've got Mr. Snuffles, and his life is now placed under threat again, so I have to be nice to you!" Sirius said in defeat and exasperation.

Lily shook her head. "Okay, remind me again how the simple question of how you became so gentlemanly all of a sudden branched out into talking about Hogwarts and more specifically, James Potter?"

"You started it! You were the one who mentioned the 'incident', not me! You're the one who kept on talking about him. Admit it Lily, after all theses year, you still harbor very strong feelings for my best mate".

"You're right Sirius" Lily sighed, causing his jaw to drop open. "I do harbor strong feelings for him". Then her expression changed. "Unfortunately for you, those strong feelings are one of intense hate. I still cannot forget and forgive him for what he did to me during graduation, and now that I mention it, for all the years of annoying hell he put me through. Thank god I don't have to ever see him again"

At this, Sirius gulped, looking quite nervous. "Um yeah, right, whatever Lils".

She sighed. "Wait, Sirius, are we really going to talk about business or did you make this whole thing up so you could talk to me?"

"Actually, we are going to talk business." Sirius replied. And with that he proceeded to tell Lily the situation. "It's about a Death Eater attack on one of the Aurors. Since this suspected Death Eater is quite prominent, it would be quite tough to convince the court to convict him" Sirius explained.

Around 4 o'clock, they ended their discussion with a promise to meet again soon. Lily had agreed to defend them and convict the suspected Death Eater. They hugged each other briefly before saying their good-byes. Once she was outside, she Apparated back to the Ministry.

..------..

A week later……..

Lily arrived at her flat at around 7 pm. She was exhausted, but happy, as was always her feeling after winning a case. She dressed into house clothes and flopped down on her duvet couch and sighed, letting the soft feel of the fabric envelope her as she relaxed.

Without warning, her telephone(enchanted so it works in the wizarding world) began to ring. She hopped off the couch and picked up her phone.

"Hello?" she said cheerfully.

"Hey, Lily, it's me, Sarah" the voice said from the other line.

"Hey Sarah!" Lily said joyfully. "What's up?"  
"Yeah, I was wondering, do you want to come with me tonight? I've got a spare ticket for the musical play that's showing tonight, it's really romantic. Please!"

Lily thought about it and said, "Sure. The Theatric Pavilion? Seven? Ok. See you at the lobby!" and with that, she put the phone down and began to get ready.

She reached the The Pavilion, in a matter of minutes. She found Sarah Anderson already waiting for her there. She met her friend at the lobby. Just as they were about to enter the theatre, Lily stopped short.

"Remus? Peter?" She said out loud in disbelief as she found that Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, along with two other girls she didn't know, were just in front of her.

"Lily! Sarah!" The two boys chorused happily, engulfing her and Sarah into a hug. "We haven't seen you in a long time" Remus remarked.

"Yeah, well, work almost always takes up my time already" Lily explained.

"Too bad" Peter remarked as they finally were inside the theatre. Since their seats were far from each other, they said their goodbyes and, before sitting down, decided to meet up for a late dinner afterwards.

Lily and Sarah finally settled themselves into the plush red armchairs, quietly talking. Suddenly, everything was in a hush as the lights dimmed, the red velvet curtain opened to reveal a world of enchanting laughter and gaiety. The audience clapped as the conductor picked up his baton and the orchestra began to strike beautiful sweet sounding melodies as the play finally began.

..------..

Lily was finally home. She checked her clock, and found that it was already 11 o' clock. She groaned, as she knew she'd have a killer headache tomorrow when she went to work, the result of giving in to Sarah's coaxing to go to a bar after their dinner with Remus and Peter and their dates.

She changed into her nightclothes and, now yawning, she lay down onto her bed and turned off the light. As she drifted off to sleep, she was thinking, or rather, dreading, that, after seeing Sirius, Remus, and Peter again, she knew that she would see James Potter again.

She had no idea how right she was, and how soon that would be.


	3. News and Dreams

I Never Gave Up

**Hey! Sorry again for the late update, hopefully this will make it up to you! Anyway, From Hate to Love has, sadly, been deleted, but I'm going to repost it soon; I'm still revamping it. Just thought you'd like to know. Anyway, enjoy this chappie! **

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing you recognize. The rest belongs to J.K Rowling

Chapter 3

A week later, and Lily was as busy as ever. She had just gotten back from the courtroom to ask the judge for a continuance for her case, and she was exhausted, having to argue all day.

She was now seated in her office, a cup of coffee in her hand, as she looked over the file folder of the case she was currently working on. Suddenly, Kevin Tyler, the overall Head of the Department( the dept. is sub-divided depending on the type of case), as well as the most arrogant jerk Lily had ever met besides James Potter himself, sauntered in. She knew it was him without even looking because she knew the loud sound that came from his highly-polished Salvatore Ferregamo (he loved Muggle fashion because they were expensive) shoes too well. It was a sound that irritated her a lot.

"What do you want?" she asked, not bothering to look up from her work. Even though he was her boss, she did not use the tone of voice that was full of respect she used in speaking to her superiors when she talked to him.

"Are you done reviewing Jamieson's case's yet? I need the file" he drawled. Lily wrote a few more lines, then closed the file folder and handed it to Kevin. He opened it and read it, taking his time.

"Cant you read it in your own office, _boss_?" Lily said, sarcasm dripping from the last word she spoke, "I believe you, damaged as your head is with images of yourself, still haven't forgotten the way to your own office".

Kevin pretended not to hear her. After finishing scanning, he said, "My, my, Lily, you do seem to be losing your touch. This way you've dealt with the case is not measuring up to your usual standards. The opinion you have of it is very wrong, I must say".

"It's my own view, not yours, Tyler, that's exactly why it's called an opinion," she said through gritted teeth.

Again, he pretended not to hear her. "And not only that, I've seen that you're asking for a continuance for this case, correct? That must mean that you're finding this hard. If I'd handled this case, I would've---"

"If you are so sure of yourself, why don't you handle the damn case instead?" Lily half-yelled, very angry by now. He was the main reason why her office life was not that satisfactory.

"Because darling," he said in a condescending tone which made Lily even more angry. "I, being Head of the Department, handle only overly complex cases, and not cases like these that simple-minded mediocre lawyers can't even solve".

That was it. Lily walked out from her desk, strode over to Kevin, and, looking very red in the face, was about to slap him, but he was able to hold on to her hand. "Ah, ah, ah, Ms. Evans. You don't want to get fired, now do you?"

She didn't reply, and he smirked. Then, continuing as if nothing had happened, he began to read the file again. As he did so, he suddenly said in a casual tone, "You know, I reassigned Jeremy to another department today".

"YOU DID WHAT!" Lily roared in a voice so loud that he looked genuinely taken aback. "YOU REASSIGNED JEREMY? ARE YOU INSANE?"

"No, I'm perfectly sane, thank you very much," her boss said, his voice now like ice, "And I reassigned Jeremy because his talent is needed in another department. International Magical Cooperation. And I'm sure he will do very well there too".

"You asshole," Lily muttered under her breath. Aloud she snapped, "And my new boss is gonna be, who?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out. It'll be announced in the Ministry party, don't worry" he said coolly, and with that, he left Lily's office with the file in his hand, smirking and leaving behind a very fuming Lily Evans.

..------..

"JEREMY PAUL LEWIS!" Lily yelled loudly as she entered Jeremy's office, shutting the door with a loud bang, and casting a silencing charm on the room. "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT YOU'RE GETTING REASSIGNED!"

"Lils, please don't yell". Jeremy said, shutting the folder he was reading from. "And I'm sorry, but Tyler told me only today, what could I do? I can't fight him; you know what happens when someone goes against his decision. The last time someone did they were last seen jumping into the Crocodile Lake".

"Your right. Sorry. It's just….." Lily's voice trailed off, but Jeremy understood completely. "I'll miss having you around. And it's not fair too," her voice turned a bit whiny. "Now, you'll get to escape Tyler while I have to get stuck with Mr. Pompous Ass and get used to a new boss too".

"Tough luck, Lils," Jeremy said, smiling softly.

"How'd Kelsey react to this yet?"

"Well….uh….."

"Oh, for goodness sake, Jeremy, you didn't tell her yet, are you crazy?" Lily said, exasperated. "She's your girlfriend, and you haven't said this to her? You're unbelievable!"

"I know, it's stupid of me not to tell her right away, but I planned to tell her tonight on our date. She's usually in a better mood after eating at her favorite restaurant," Jeremy assured her.

Lily sighed. "Great. I'll miss you being my boss. Oh, and speaking of which, do you know who the Criminal Law Department's new boss will be?" she asked her friend.

Jeremy made a strangled, almost nervous sounding cough as he said hastily, "Oh, what I—um, that is….well….no. No, I…don't. You'll find out at the Ministry party, don't worry".

Lily raised her eyebrow, not looking entirely convinced, but said nothing. There was something about the way Kevin Tyler smirked a while ago and Jeremy's reaction to her question that made her think that something was up.

"Listen, Lily, I'll talk to you later. I still have a meeting with the Minister to arrange some papers for the transfer. Trust Tyler to transfer me without any warning then leaving me to process everything" Jeremy shook his head, and with a final smile at Lily, he left.

Lily sighed once again, and left the room as well, the nagging feeling of suspicion not ebbing one bit.

..------..

That night, in Jeremy's apartment…..

He was back from his date with Kelsey. He had told her, of course, and she had gotten upset, but once he had assured her that getting transferred into a new department would not affect their relationship, she gradually accepted it. That was one problem solved. Now he was thinking of the other one: Lily.

He kept on thinking about that conversation she had with Lily. He kept on reliving that instant when he told her that he didn't know who the guy who was replacing him was. Actually, he didn't tell her not because he didn't know. On the contrary, he perfectly knew who it was. He didn't tell her because he didn't _want_ her to now. At least not now. He knew that if she knew right away she would freak and probably not attend the Ministry party at all.

In Lily's flat……

She was in her kitchen, fixing herself a cup of coffee. Once finished, she took the steaming mug with her and sat down on the couch. She was surprised to see her old Hogwarts year book lying neatly on the coffee table in front of her.

"Wow, I haven't looked at this in a while," she murmured to herself. She took a sip of her coffee and began to flip the pages.

She smiled, seeing her friend's and classmates old photos. She, of course, skipped the Slytherins. Lily didn't know whether to be amused or weirded out when she found that the Marauders had a section all to themselves, their pictures and biographies, as well as pictures of their pranks and other memorable moments.

"I can't believe they actually got to bribe whoever was printing this into getting an entire section to themselves," Lily mused to herself, an amused glimmer in her eyes. She took a closer look at the pictures.

She had a good deal of laughing when she saw some random pictures and remembered some good times. But as she peered closely over the Christmas section, she gasped.

There in the middle of everything, was a picture of her and James Potter, when they had accidentally kissed during the season. And another picture of her and James dancing—opening the dance-- during the Winter Ball. How could someone get pictures of this…..unless…..she ground her teeth and said one word. "Black".

Making a mental note to contact him tomorrow, she shut the book, and finished her coffee in silence. Rain had started to pour, first as a light drizzle then becoming a steady downpour. She sighed contentedly; she had always loved the rain.

She spent her time there on the couch, just thinking about her life in general. Without knowing it, her eyes suddenly drooped closed, and she slumped into the couch and slept, images of last Christmas seeping through her mind, particularly the one where she and James had kissed, her most hated moment.

But, if dreaming about having kissed James Potter was her most hated moment, then why on earth was Lily Evans smiling?


	4. The Ministry Party

**Hey again! So, this is the moment you've all been waiting for: James is finally here! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Forgive the manic laughter, but I can never seem to shut up laughing when I put Lily and James in funny and uncomfortable situations. Anyway, I had quite a good time writing this chapter, as this is the only thing saving me from not losing my sanity, what with a hectic school schedule and all that hinders me from updating(seriously, there should be a law against making freshmen work too hard, but hey, it's summer already, so why bother?). By the way, I apologize for the late update. Really sorry. Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing you recognize. The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling

Chapter 4

The Ministry Party

It was finally the day before the Ministry party would occur. The whole place was a buzz with excitement, and many, especially the females, could hardly concentrate on their work. You see, aside from this party being a breather for everyone, it also provided an opportunity for them to mingle with other people who had high influence, and get an opportunity for them to rise in position.

In the Criminal Law Department, Lily was still as busy as ever, writing as fast as she could. She had a lot of things to do, and she wanted to do them all before the party so she wouldn't have a meltdown on Monday. Suddenly, her door opened and Kelsey walked in.

"Hey Lily!" she said brightly as she stepped inside. "Excited about the party?"

"Of course I am," Lily replied, smiling as well as she put down her quill. "I cant wait for tonight. I know how the Palladium Hall will look tonight, and I can tell you it looks great".

"You should know," Kelsey replied. "_You_ designed the place and planned the whole thing".

"Yeah, well, let's just hope nothing's there to ruin it. I mean, I worked really hard to make this year's party awesome, and I really wish no one or nothing would ruin it for me".

Kelsey looked strangely uncomfortable at that sentence. "Um…right Lils. Anyway, I've got to go. I'll see you at 7, okay?"

Lily nodded and Kelsey left. As the door closed behind her, Lily couldn't help but wonder why Kelsey, Jeremy and Kevin Tyler acted so strangely whenever she said something like that as she picked up her quill and set out to work once more.

..------..

The next day……..

"This is it! The long-awaited day has finally arrived!" Kelsey sang out excitedly as she stepped into Lily's office.

"Kelse, calm down. You seem a little way too excited for this. Are you sure you did one cheering charm on yourself today, or did you overdo it and caused damage to your brain?" Lily joked, smiling as she watched her friend.

"Hahaha, Lily, very funny. Come on, don't get all psychological with me, I know you as excited as I am, Kelsey chided her.

"Of course I am, Kelsey. It's just…..I can't seem to shake off the feeling that something big's going to happen tonight. I don't know what, but it just feels so weird" Lily said.

Kelsey laughed, but she sounded nervous. Not noticing, however, Lily continued, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips, "and I happen to know for a fact that you're just so thrilled about going tonight".

"Of course I am, do you think I'd be this cheery if I wasn't?" Kelsey replied. "Anyway, what're you gonna wear?"

Lily smiled mysteriously. "It's for me to know and you to find out".

Knowing that any amount of coaxing would not get Lily to reveal what she was wearing, Kelsey simply sighed and said, "Fine. Be that way. Anyway Lils, I've got to go. A load of paperwork beckons!" she ended unenthusiastically as she left the room.

Once she had shut the door to Lily's office, Kelsey sighed once more and continued walking, not to her office, but to the Department of International Magical Cooperation. She needed to talk to Jeremy.

..------..

"Jeremy, I can't do this anymore. It's so hard to hide everything from her!" Kelsey wailed to him. Thankfully, it was already lunch break, so they decided to eat out and talk. "It's like she keeps on mentioning it. It's driving me crazy!"

"Kelse, calm down. She'll find out tonight; I'm sure you can wait that long without spilling everything to her," Jeremy reassured her.

"That's what I'm afraid about. I known Lily since Hogwarts and I know she will not be pleased. In fact, I'm not gonna be surprised if we see her trying to jump off the roof after she finds out," Kelsey said.

"Lily's a rational person. She'll be fine. Sure she'll be shocked, but I'm sure she'll get over it in a few days," Jeremy said, although his voice lacked assuredness.

Kelsey looked at her boyfriend in disbelief. "Jeremy, please be realistic. Seven years of hatred is hard to forget".

Jeremy shook his head. They both sipped their drinks, both thinking about the upcoming party, and what would come out of it.

..------..

It was around six o'clock, and Lily was in her bedroom, getting ready for the party. She had already slipped on her dress and was doing her hair. She was wondering how to do it. Should she let it down in waves, perhaps? Or pull it up? Finally she decided on letting her hair in pretty auburn waves, clipped on the side with a diamond-studded hairpiece. Simple yet very elegant, she thought. Unconsciously though, her mind drifted back to Graduation Day, wherein she had arranged her hair in the same manner. Everyone had said that it was very becoming, and she had thanked everyone for the compliment. Everyone except one.

A few touches and an hour and a half later, Lily was finally ready. Enlarging her mirror to make it full-length, she surveyed herself. She was wearing a floor-length one-shoulder gown made of the most wonderful satin, with a soft blue color and covered with a sparkling blue beading. With her elegant accessories, hairstyle, and matching clutch bag, she looked marvelous.

With one last look of scrutiny, Lily took her bag and Apparated out of sight.

..------..

Twenty minutes later, Lily was with Jeremy and Kelsey, who was wearing a rose-colored halter dress inside the lavish Palladium Hall. It was obvious that this was to be a grandiose and formal party. With the lavish decorations and lovely orchestra music, it was no doubt that Lily had certainly done a good job.

The three separated and mingled with the crowd, Lily sometimes talking to more than one person at a time. Suddenly, dinner was announced, and everyone sat down to a scrumptious gourmet dinner of lobster, pasta, steaks, and other delightful selections of foods. Jeremy, Kelsey, and Lily sat on one of the tables and ate their food, occasionally talking. Despite the light-hearted atmosphere, Lily still had this got feeling that something shocking would indeed happen.

"These two know something, I'm sure of it," Lily thought to herself as she observed the couple talk in low, earnest voices.

Suddenly, the music stopped and the Minister of Magic stepped in. Jeremy shared an apprehensive look with his girlfriend.

The Minister cleared his throat and began. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to this year's party. Before anything else, we would like to all thank Miss Lily Evans for the fabulous party she has planned. A round of applause, please!"

Once the tremendous applause had died down, the Minister continued, "As you know, Mr. Jeremy Lewis has recently been reassigned to another department, leaving his job as Head of the Criminal Law Department vacant. But I am please to welcome a truly dedicated person who has graciously stepped in for the job. A brilliant student, a dedicated Auror, and all around a great person to be associated with, he will be joining the dynasty of his prestigious family who has served the Ministry for as long as we can remember. And without further ado, let us welcome him now".

Applause was heard and Lily's mouth dropped pen as a tall man with unruly jet-black hair and hazel eyes hidden behind glasses came to the stage. "Without further ado," the Minister said, "It is my pleasure to welcome the New Head of the Department of Wizarding Law's Criminal Department, Mister James Michael Potter".

..------..

Lily couldn't believe it as she looked up disbelievingly at the man on stage. James Potter, the man she had so studiously hated since her Hogwarts days, was going to be her new boss! Talk about coincidental.

"Okay Lily, breathe, deep breathes. In, and out. In, and out," she told herself, hardly daring to believe that fate had taken a sadistic turn for the worse.

She looked up to the stage and for a brief moment, their eyes met. Lily turned away at once, but she could have sworn that James had given her a slight wink before he took the magical microphone from the Minister.

"Thank you Minister for that gracious welcome," James said. "And I must say, it is quite surprising to see a lot of familiar faces here from my Hogwarts days. It seems like just yesterday we were causing mayhem, and now, everyone is doing all they can to stop it". An appreciative murmur rose form the crowd. "Anyway, all I just wanted to say was that I'm looking forward to working with al of you, and good evening. Thank you".

A light applause was heard as he gave a short bow and stepped off the stage. A crowd of people immediately began to gather around him, and he was stuck in conversation for the next half-hour.

When he was able to politely excuse himself, however, he made a beeline for Lily, who was making herself as inconspicuous as possible. When she saw that James was headed in her direction, her head filled with panic and she did the first thing that came into her head-move.

She left her seat and went near to the staircase, where she surrounded herself with people. If she was preoccupied, she thought, then James couldn't approach her properly.

Unfortunately, the people around her had left, and she decided to go somewhere else. The nearest place was the garden. As she walked into the chilly night air, she hugged herself as she felt a sense of relief at being completely alone. It seemed as if James had not followed her after all. She sighed, feeling completely serene, when suddenly……

"BOO!"

The scare was so unexpected and shocking that Lily jumped out of her seat, gasping a little. She didn't deal well with surprises that much. Once she regained her composure, she turned around and faced the laughing culprit.

"Potter," she said with as much civility as she could. "Did you really have to do that?"  
"Well, you were avoiding me," James said. "And I wanted to talk to you, so I scared you".

Noting that he didn't even apologize, she asked. "What are you doing here, Potter?"

"Well, I'm at a party, because I was invited and I wanted to have fun. I am part of the Ministry after all" James explained simply.

Lily shook her head. "No. I meant, what are doing being the Head of my Department? You're a trained Auror, why couldn't you have just stayed in that line of work?"

"Well, in case you didn't know Lily, I studied law quite some time ago. Recently graduated with honors, you know. Besides, when I saw your name on the list of the people belonging in the department, I jumped at the chance at once".

"WHY!" Lily groaned.

"Anything to be near you, Lily. And might I say, the night brings out the shining emerald in your eyes quite well," he complimented her.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Look, why don't you do me a favor, and take all your 1987 pick-up lines, shove them out the window, and do the same to yourself in the process. See, I would have gladly done that to you, but I don't want to ruin my dress".

James looked unfazed. "Whatever. Look, we are going to be working a lot from now on, so why don't we catch up? I've missed you a lot, you know. How about eight o'clock this Saturday, at Elene's? They make a great carpaccio".

"Potter, listen" Lily turned to smile sweetly at him. "You've asked me out when we were at Hogwarts, and I've always answered NO. But now that we're working, and grown up, my answer is……..still no. Sorry Potter, but I'm not interested, especially not in you. I haven't forgotten yet how much you tormented me in school".

"But those were acts of endearment! Haven't you heard of reverse psychology?" James inquired.

"Well, if those were acts of endearment, then I am sorry to tell you that I wasn't charmed one bit".

James looked a bit downcast but recovered, "Fine then. But if you must know, I never give up. But since we will be working in close confines, why don't we call each other by our first names? It seems childish to call ourselves with our last names, don't you think?"

Lily thought about it for a second. "Well, I guess……..fine". She checked her watch, and said, "Well, I've got to go. I have a busy day tomorrow, with my cousin coming and all".

"Alright then. Bye Lily," James said softly.

"Right. Um, bye……..James. I'll see you on Monday, I guess," Lily said as she turned and left, knowing that he was staring at her the whole time.

She Apparated towards her apartment, and once there, she dropped her bag onto the couch and flopped down on her bed, thinking what would happen now that her life had just taken an unexpected turn.


	5. Pure Insanity

Chapter 5

**Pure Insanity**

Lily took as much time as she could in getting ready for work that sunny Monday morning. She was especially nervous about going to work today, as she would be seeing James and be working near him for the first time.

When she could delay herself no longer, she took her bag, some files, and Apparated to the Ministry. After being cleared and granted entrance, she walked as slow as she could to the Criminal Law Department. When she reached there, she passed by the glass-tinted doors of the Head's office, and Lily couldn't help but sigh as she made her way to her own office.

An hour later, and she was busy viewing some files when Dianne Mallory, who had been Jeremy's secretary and was now James' secretary, came into her office, bringing with her some folders.

"Hey Lily, um, these need your signature pronto. Just please give them to me when your finished, Mr. Tyler said no later than this evening," she handed the files to Lily then continued, "Oh yeah, and, um, Mr. Potter wants to see you in his office right now. Very important, he said".

Lily gave a small smile and said, "Thanks Dianne". With a sigh, Lily sighed as she stood up and left her office. "What could he want this time?"

Finding the door open, she walked in and found James Potter standing by his desk, examining some files. When he noticed her however, he placed the files back on his desk and turned to Lily.

"Good morning, Lily," James greeted as he walked towards her. "How nice to see you again!"

"Cut the crap James. Tell me why you called me now, because you are wasting my time," Lily snapped.

"Obviously, someone's not in a very good mood," James remarked.

"I'm only in a bad mood when I'm around you. Now tell me what this is all about," Lily retorted.

James instantly looked serious as he said, "Alright, fine. I want you to handle the Breakman case, as the defendant. Study this file, and trial's gonna happen around next Friday".

Lily breathed a sigh of relief as she said, "Fine. I'll do it". She already began scanning the file.

"Good then that's done. Let's get back to work".

But seeing something in the file, Lily had something bothering her. "Wait a minute, but-----"

"No buts," James interrupted.

"What if-----"

"No what if's either"

"That's not fair. I have a perfectly valid point to discuss with you, and your not even giving my the time to get my point across. As I said, that's not fair!" Lily protested.

"Lily, Lily, Lily. You have to understand something. I'm never fair," James retorted, sticking out his tongue at her. She did the same.

Almost at the same time they both muttered, "Immature". Without another word, Lily left his office and headed for her own, feeling more agitated than when she first came in.

..------..

That night, Lily, Kelsey, and Sarah went uptown to witness the opening of the new restaurant, _Carmelite_. They were friends of the daughter of the owner, so they had special reserve places there.

After all the ceremonies were over, everyone sat down to a delicious meal. Halfway through, as luck would have it, James and his friends entered. Lily groaned when she saw that they were headed to her friend's table.

"Lily, fancy meeting you here," said James looking mildly surprised.

"James, or rather, Mr. Potter, what are you doing here? Are you stalking me or something?" Lily asked, frowning.

Remus answered for James by saying, "Now Lily, why would he do that? All of us are just here to enjoy a nice, pleasant meal devoid of any underhanded schemes".

"Yeah, except that James had to practically beg on his hands and knees to Carly just to get a last-minute reservation," Sirius muttered, earning himself a glare from James as the group laughed.

"Guys, do you want to join------OUCH!" Sarah said but her words turned into an expression of pain when Lily kicked her foot under the table. However, James and the rest saw what she did and looked at Lily with amused expressions.

"Lily, Lily, Lily," asked Sirius, grinning. "I wonder how much you hurt Sarah when you kicked her".

"Care to find out by trying it yourself?" said Lily, grinning as she revealed one of her feet, which was clad in closed shoes with a very pointy and quite sharp tip.

"No way," Sirius replied. Then, after exchanging a look with his friends, he told them, "Well, we'd better be going. See you later," and with that, they left.

Lily groaned again and said, "Why is it that he turns up in almost every place that I'm at? I mean, as if it isn't enough that I have to see him at work".

"Lily, come on, James is being sweet, don't you realize that?" Kelsey said.

"Yeah right. You try being the one he tormented for the past seven years and annoy for the next ten years then you tell me how it feels," Lily snapped.

"Come on, Lily. Kelse is right. He's being so sweet!" Sarah said

"No he isn't. He's not being sweet, he's being crazy and a lunatic. End of story".

"Yes he is, Lily!"

Lily sighed. "Hey, Sarah?" Lily asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"SHUT UP!"

..------..

The next day Lily was just finished tediously writing out a long report for work when James arrived.

"What? I'm busy, so make it quick," Lily snapped, not looking up from her work.

"Whoever said that I had something to say to you?" James replied, smugly smiling. "What if I came here just to see you?"

"Well, since you already saw me, LEAVE!" Lily said, pointing in the direction of the door.

"Now Lily, that isn't a good way to speak to your boss," he chided.

"Now, James, it isn't good to annoy people so much," she retorted.

"Whatever. Anyway, I just stopped by to give you these papers that need your countersignature before I get to sign them. Here," and finally he placed a stack of paper's on Lily's desk, then left and open-mouthed Lily in his wake.

"Annoying idiot," she said as she got back to work. She took a look at the stack of papers, and her temper flared when she saw the little parchment attached to the first paper.

_Dinner at 8 tomorrow night? Your choice. _

..------..

A week later, and Lily as on the verge of a mental breakdown. Ever since he had arrived, he had been driving her crazy by asking her out almost every day and annoying her constantly, calling her to his office for no good reason. Their other officemates had observed this, and after knowing the two's history, couldn't help but watch in amusement.

It was a Tuesday afternoon and James had requested Lily, yet again, to come into his office. Thankfully though, this time, it was for proper, work reasons. The two were working on a new case wherein they would both act as prosecutors, and they decided to work on it as soon as possible, though the first trial would not be in a month. No talk was said about the upcoming trial that Friday, though Lily was getting a bit irritated when James would suddenly interject some stupid comment that was completely far from their work.

"Lily, what do you think of this?" James asked her, holding up a bag filled with clear crystals. "I've tried every identification spell, but I still can't figure out what this thing is".

"Hmm?" Lily said as she walked around the office, looking around. She was looking at the photos that were hanging on one side of his office. There was one with him and Sirius in presumably Rome. Another one with his family. And another one at Hogwarts with all his friends.

When she finished looking, however, she went over to James. "Let me see that," she asked. He handed her the substance, then she examined it. She used no spell, she merely observed it, but never took a whiff at it.

"Just as I suspected," Lily said, giving the bag back to James. "That's methamphetamine hydrochloride, that's an illegal drug. It's known in the Muggle world, but, even if it exists here, it isn't widely known. That's why you couldn't identify it with a spell; there's no drop of magic in those".

"Then the question is………" James murmured. "What is a Muggle-known highly illegal substance doing in a wizarding crime scene?"

"Do you think that Walters was using drugs? There was speculation of suicide," Lily said. She wrote something down on her notebook.

"But he was a wizard, how would he have known? Besides, they've already brought in Lincoln as the prime suspect. Unless…………."

"Unless Lincoln's a Half-blood. That would make perfect sense, he would know about the Wizarding world and the Muggle world as well".

"But how would that fit in?" James asked. "I mean, alright, probably Lincoln's a Half-Blood, and he would have access to drugs, but how does it fit in to killing Walters?"

Lily thought about it. "I'm not sure. Do you have Lincoln's record? I need to see it, I have a hunch".

James looked tired and annoyed. "Lily, I told you to study everything, how on earth could you have not known everything about our opponent?"

"You know what, I've had enough. For the past morning and afternoon, most of what you've been doing was berating me. Personally, I'd rather have the Giant Squid as a boss than you, you're impossible!" said Lily, looking highly agitated as she stepped across the room.

James turned to her, now looking more relaxed, his expression of annoyance quickly turning into an expression of amusement. "Really? First you tell me that you'd much rather date the Giant Squid than me, and then you tell me that you'd rather have it for a boss? It's probably only a matter of time before you tell me that you'd much rather marry the Giant Squid than me".

"Honestly, your right. Compared to you, the Giant Squid is much more appealing," Lily said absentmindedly.

Glad that a light-hearted break had been granted from their stressful work, he gave her a smirk before walking towards her and taking her hand, much to her surprise. He then dragged her near the fireplace. "James, would you please tell me what exactly are you doing?" Lily asked, bewildered as James took a pot from the fireplace's edge.

"You said you wanted to marry the Giant Squid, right? Well, I think that can be arranged," James explained, smiling in amusement.

Lily gave him a look of annoyance before she yanked her arm out of his grasp and snapped, "Oh, for goodness sake, James, don't you understand that all that I've been saying about preferring the Giant Squid to you simply means one answer, which is no? Don't you recognize a metaphor when you hear one, or is your brain to full of useless crap to notice?"

"My brain is not full of worthless crap Lily!" James protested, giving her a cheeky grin. "It's full of nerves and that squishy things brains are made of, whatever they call it, and it's divided into the----"

Lily gave him another look of exasperation before cutting him short. "James you are hopeless". Then she did a double take. "Wait a sec, how come you're now calling me Lily? When did I ever give you permission to call me by my first name?" she demanded, rounding in on him.

He merely grinned again before saying, "Answer me this. Why are you now calling me James?"

"You're changing the subject".

"Oh right. Of course. Well," James said dryly, "I wasn't aware that you had to ask a person's permission to call them by their first name. Remember, we had an agreement, right? And besides, why are you annoyed? You're not the only one who's called Lily you know. I mean, I've got a picture of a woman on my bedside table with the name Lily".

"From what I gather from Sirius, that Lily you're talking about still happens to be me" she snapped, but her cheeks were now tinted slightly with pink.

"Right. You've made your point". After that, silence fell once more in the room. It was neither awkward nor comfortable, it was just…..pure silence.

Finally James broke it. He glanced at the clock and said, "Hey, it's already 5! Time flies, eh? Well, we'll do some more work tomorrow; just make sure to analyze these tonight. Maybe you can get something out of it".

"Why do I suddenly feel like I'm a student being assigned homework from a professor?" Lily muttered but took the files all the same. "Well, bye James".

"Bye Lily," he called out to her retreating figure.

_Odd_, Lily mused as she walked back to her office. _He hasn't asked me out yet. Definitely strange. He did look good today though, I've never seen him look so serious and—wait a sec, did I just think that he looked good? Urgh, what am I thinking?_

She reached her office and was surprised to see a bouquet of red roses on her table. She placed her files on her table and after taking in the sight of the truly exquisite flowers, Lily took the card and read it.

_Hope you like them. They're as pretty as you._

_Hoping that you'll give me a chance, one day,_

_James_

Lily had to laugh. For once, he had sent something that didn't sound egoistical, it almost seemed……sweet. "Wait a minute, I did not just associate James Potter with the word sweet. I think all the work must have gotten to me. I hate him, right? Yeah, I hate James Potter, always have and always will".

But a question seemed to nag her as she went home: If she hated James Potter so much, then why did she feel her heart do a back flip just at the mere sight of his name?


	6. Of Trials and Serious Fights

**Hey, everyone, thank you so much for the reviews! It gave me enough motivation to continue writing. Thanks, and hope you like this chappie! **

Chapter 6

**Of Trials and Serious Fights**

It was finally Friday, and Lily was nervous as she headed to the Ministry. It was the day of the trial, and though she was well-prepared, she was quite anxious since James was playing Prosecutor, and after working with him for the past week, she knew that he was darn good at what he did.

"Good morning, Lily," Dianne greeted as Lily arrived at the Criminal Law Department. "Nervous for today?"

"Well to be frank, yes," Lily replied. "I was up almost all night, replaying everything I learned".

"Well, if that's the case, you're better off than James. He's been in his office since 6 in the morning, running through everything just to make sure. And he was using an extremely loud voice too, it was driving me crazy!" Dianne and Lily laughed.

"Why is he so nervous? He's usually calm about things like this," Lily asked.

"I heard him screaming, I mean practicing, and I went in and asked him. Simple. He told me that one look at your 'beautiful and angelic face' might send everything he learned and practiced out the window," Kelsey said as she arrived from the end of the corridor.

Glad to have a light-hearted atmosphere that saved her from a nervous breakdown, Lily laughed and conversed along with the two girls then after awhile, excused herself to go to her office. As she walked, she could distinctly hear the strains of James's voice. Shaking her head lightly, she went inside her office.

..------..

It was a quarter to ten, and Lily was pacing the floor of her office. It was exactly fifteen minutes before the trial, and she was getting apprehensive. Suddenly, Dianne came in again.

"Hey Lily, Mr. Potter asked me to call you to his office. He didn't say why though," she said.

"Oh. Thanks, Dianne," Lily said. She went to James's office, taking her briefcase with her, as she figured she would just directly go to the courtroom after her meeting with James.

"You called?" Lily asked him as she arrived. James smiled.

"Hey, Lily. Nervous?" James asked her.

"Yes. You?" Lily said. When she remembered the flowers he had sent last night, she added, "Oh, by the way, thank you for the roses. They were lovely".

"But not as lovely as you," James countered.

Lily sighed. "James, what did I tell you about your lame pick-up lines at the Ministry Party?"

James appeared to think for a moment before replying, "Oh yes, I remember now. You told me to 'get my 1987 pick-up lines, shove them out the window, and do the same to myself too'. Unfortunately," he gave her a half-smirk, half- grin which made Lily raise her brow. "If I do that, I would be depriving everyone of my great presence, and I would never have the pleasure of taking you out and proving my worth to you, which would be such a shame, because, of course, I am one of the most eligible men in wizarding England".

Lily snapped, "James, did you take an overdose of your arrogance pill today? Because you seem to be overly cocky right now. You're acting like your fifteen again, you know," she paused then, as if she realized something, she added, "Oh, so is this your technique? Working up and making your opponent mad, so they can forget everything and fumble, causing you to win the case and get all the fame and glory? Well I'm sorry, buddy, but it just won't work, because I am considered one of the best at what I do. I have had my fair share of diversionary tactics already, and I can overcome each and every one of them".

"Lily, you must understand something," James said, smirking now. "I don't need diversionary tactics to win this case, it's all in the bag, and I assure you, I am so winning this thing".

Lily looked up into his eyes with unwavering cool. "Seem a bit too sure of yourself, now aren't you? You haven't seen what I can do yet, James, and I assure you, I may follow and respect the rules as much as any self-respecting lawyer would, but I can also fight fearlessly to get what I want".

"It's a good thing you are willing to bend the rules, Lily," James replied. "And here I was, beginning to think that you were as rigid and rule-obsessed as McGonagall".

"_Professor_ McGonagall is not a rule-obsessed person, James. She is just very disciplined and values the rules for the students' own safety, unlike some people," Lily retorted, wondering how on earth their conversation had reached into the subject of Professor Minerva McGonagall.

"Yes she is. McGonagall is a crazy, rules-obsessed bat, okay?" James said, his eyes holding traces of amusement.

"SHE IS NOT!"

"SHE IS TOO!"  
"IS NOT!"

"IS TOO!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, JAMES, SHE IS NOT A CRAZY, RULE-OBSESSED BAT!" she yelled. She paused, then resumed in her normal voice, "Why the hell are we even arguing about Professor McGonagall?"

"I don't know, really," James said, giving her a grin.

"This is so stupid. Wait, sorry, let me rephrase that, _you_ are stupid," Lily said. She sighed tiredly. "You know what, why don't you find yourself a bridge and jump off it?"

"That's certainly new," James commented. "I've heard something involving jumping out the window, strangling myself with the sheets, and running over myself with a truck, but never a jumping off a bridge. You think that up last night, Lily?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did, after I had four martinis and I threw a couple of darts at your picture," Lily said, sarcasm dripping from every word she spoke.

"Well, well, well, so let me get this straight. You needed to be intoxicated just to have the courage to throw darts at my picture, which I wasn't aware you had, and to come up with a biting remark? You care about me after all, since you don't seem to be able to do that in a sober state of mind," James said dryly.

Lily glanced at her watch. Five minutes till the trial. "Look, James, I don't know what's wrong with you today, but I actually have an intention of showing up at the courtroom early, and winning the case fair and square. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a case to be getting to," and with that biting remark, she took her briefcase and hurried out the door, her mind still clouded by annoyance and anger.

James glanced at her retreating figure, then picked up his own briefcase and started walking towards the courtroom as well. He laughed softly to himself. "Hehe, nothing like a classic psych- out to liven things up before a trial".

..------..

"And so to conclude, it is entirely possible that my client was framed, and the murder was pinned on him by someone else, because the fingerprints on the poisoned dagger found at the crime scene do not match the defendants'," Lily said, her voice clear and resounding in the hushed courtroom.

"Thank you, Miss Evans. Now-----" the judge tried to say but was cut off by James, who seemed to shock everyone.

"If I may contradict, Judge Lindstrom," James said, "But there is a point in Miss Evan's statement which bothers me and forces me to interrupt. You see, it is perfectly plausible that though the fingerprints found on the dagger may not match the accused, it is possible that the accused still did the crime. After all, he is the only one with the proper motive to do so, and besides, if you would kill a person, would you be so careless as to leave your own mark of identification at the scene of the crime? I think not".

Lily was dumbstruck and outraged. She stood up and yelled, "OBJECTION YOUR HONOR, BUT MR. POTTER IS DISRUPTING THE WAY I AM HANDLING MY CASE. HE IS TWISTING MY WORDS, AND IS RUINING HOW I AM TRYING TO EXPLAIN MY CLIENT'S SIDE OF THE STORY".

"Objection overruled. Mr. Potter is merely doing his job, which is what you should be doing as well. Take a seat," said Judge Lindstrom calmly yet firmly.

"Your honor, I think that Ms. Evans is simply getting rattled and all worked up. You see, she knows, deep in her heart that, whatever she tries to do, she can never beat me. After all," James added with a smug expression. "I am the State's top Prosecutor".

"Oh, and who told you that, your own reflection? God, James, your arrogance is way out of control! This is exactly one of the reasons why I won't go out with you!" Lily snapped, standing back again as she tried to keep her voice as even as possible.

"Who told me that? Only the Minister of Magic himself said it," James retaliated. "Wait this is not part of the case".

"WHAT IS NOT PART OF THE CASE?"

"MY SUPPOSED 'ARROGANCE'. IT IS NOT UP FOR DISCUSSION. WHAT IS UP FOR DISCUSSION IS THIS CASE AND-------"

"AND YOU ARE TRYING TO TWIST ALL MY WORDS SO THAT I'D GET ALL WORKED UP AND FAIL! WELL GUESS WHAT, IT MAY HAVE WORKED TO SOME EXTENT IN SCHOOL, BUT NOT THIS TIME!" she yelled.

From the defendant's table, Bob Pratchet sighed and muttered, "For goodness sake, get on with the damn case already! I would like to get out of Azkaban before this century ends, you know".

"DO YOU HAVE PROOF THAT I'M DOING SUCH?" James challenged.

Before Lily could retort, the judge said, or rather, snapped, "THAT IS ENOUGH. IF THE BOTH OF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES THAT ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL, THEN DISCUSS THEM OUTSIDE OF MY COURTROOM! ON WITH THE CASE!"

"Yes your Honor," the two dully replied.

The whole thing started back up again, this time with Lily and James acting as professionally as ever, presenting their evidence, questioning the witnesses thoroughly, and the like.

Finally, after everything, Judge Lindstrom said, "Alright, we will commence with this case again in a month, as there needs to be more extensive research and studying on this case to be done by us. I expect both lawyers to be well-prepared properly by then. Case adjourned". And as she stuck the gavel and stood up, everyone started filing out of the courtroom as well, two Aurors taking Pratchet away.

Lily headed as fast as she could to her office, her face as red as her hair. "Hi, Lily, how did the case go?" Dianne said as she passed.

Lily let out a quick scream as she passed Dianne and continued walking to her office. "I'll take that as a negative," Dianne said to herself as she shook her head.

Once she reached her office, Lily went inside, slamming the door with a loud SLAM! She took her wand, formed a quick, "Silencio," then………

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH! I HATE JAMES POTTER!" Lily yelled at the top of her lungs as she stormed around her office. "HE IS SUCH A JERK! THAT ARROGANT, POMPOUS JERK, I HATE HIM!"

Lily took hold of the first thing that came within her grasp, which turned out to be a pillow from her small sofa, and hurled it at the door. Unfortunately, James took that exact moment to open the door and enter the room, so the pillow hit him square in the head.

"You know Lily," he said as he entered the room fully, "If you wanted to hurt me, you could at least use something better than a pillow".

"James," Lily said in a deadly quiet and cold voice. "Get out of here, now, before I hurt you".

James merely frowned. "Lily, are you mad about what happened at the trial?"

"No, of course not, I just love to be corrected and criticized in front of the judge! What the hell do you think?" Lily said sarcastically and angrily. "Of course I'm mad, James. You ruined everything!"

"Look, Lily, I didn't ruin anything. If you looked at it logically----"

"Logically? James, you contradicted the way I handled the case in front of the entire room. You kept on being a pompous ass getting me all riled up to the point where I couldn't almost proceed properly. Is that your technique, huh? Is that the reason why you win a lot of cases? This is an all-new low James, even for you".

James looked strangely calm as ever. "Lily," he said slowly. "You have to understand something. I-----"

"Understand? UNDERSTAND!" Lily practically blew up. "James, I don't need to understand the fact that you are the most horrible person in this universe, because I already know that!"

Now James was beginning to look mad as well. "Now, Lily," he said, struggling to keep his voice still even. "You don't even know----"

"Know what? God, James, I thought you changed. Okay, maybe not changed completely, but at least to some extent! I thought you outgrew being this sneaky, but I guess not," Lily snapped. "I see now that you are no worse than those Slytherins you used to torment at school".

"No wait just a minute here, Lily," James snapped. "Don't you dare compare me to those people. I am not like them, nor will I ever be, how dare you say that!"

"You aren't like them? Are you sure? It doesn't seem like it," Lily snapped nastily.

That was when James lost it. "Damn it, Lily, don't you see that what I did earlier was for your own good!" he half-yelled.

Lily stared at him, incredulous. "For my OWN GOOD! Could you explain that to me, please?"

James sighed and snapped, "Look, it's obvious that Pratchet is guilty, everything points to him. I know that you know he is, don't deny it!"

"HE MAY BE GUITLY BUT I AM I STILL HIS LAWYER AND I WILL DO THE BEST I CAN TO NOT MAKE HIM SEEM MORE INHUMANE THAN YOU MAKE HIM OUT TO BE!"

"LILY, THAT ISN'T THE CASE!"

"OH REALLY, ENLGIHTEN ME!"

"FINE. I'LL TELL YOU HONESTLY. I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR YOU. EVERYTHING, ALL THOSE CRITICIZISMS AND ANNOYANCES I SAID WAS ALL FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

"WHAT! WHY IS THAT FOR MY OWN GOOD, PRAY TELL?"

"BECAUSE I WANTED TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOU!"

Lily stared at him, still incredulous. "The best in me? How the hell does ruining the way I handle the case by annoying me going to bring out the best in me!"

"You want to know? Fine," James snapped loudly. "Look, ever since I started working here, I noticed something. The determination, the assertiveness, the I'm not-easily-intimidated-woman I met and fell in love with at Hogwarts was almost gone. I've known you for a long time, and you never back down on any challenge, especially one that I give. I wanted to provoke you, because I thought and I hoped that you would fight, that you would give more than your best, this was partly a training ground for you!"

"Training ground?" Lily scoffed. "I don't need any training James, I learned everything I needed before you came, for your information!"

"See, that's you problem right there!" James said furiously. "You think that you know everything, that you are one of the best, when in reality, you still need a lot of work!"

"You filthy hypocrite! I can't believe that I'm hearing this from you, Mr. Oh-I'm-So-Wonderful-Come-and-Worship-Me Potter!"

"LILY, I AM YOUR BOSS. THIS IS MY JOB, DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO TELL ME OTHERWISE!" James yelled.

"DAMN IT JAMES, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUST COME HERE AND YELL AT ME, ALRIGHT? YOU GAVE ME THIS ASSIGNMENT, SO DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO QUESTION HOW I PROCEED WITH IT!"

"FOR GOODNESS' SAKE, LILY, I AM NOT TRYING TO QUESTION YOUR TECHINIQUE! I AM TRYING TO FINE-TUNE IT, BUT IF YOU DON'T WANT MY HELP, THAT'S FINE!"

"You know what, James, I don't have time for this. Just do me a favor, get the hell out of my office, and preferably out of my life as well!" Lily snapped.

"Fine then," was all James said angrily as he stormed out of Lily's office, slamming the door with a loud SLAM!

Once he was gone, Lily buried her head in her hands and thought over everything James had said. As she replayed the fight in her head, some tears began to flow, which made her felt worse. Lily knew that she wasn't crying because of the fight that had just happened, the first serious fight between her and James. No, she was crying because, deep down, she knew that James was absolutely right.


	7. Forgiveness and Friendship

Chapter 7

**Forgiveness and Friendship**

It had been three days since their fight, and neither of them was speaking to the other. If they needed something, they would ask Dianne to play messenger, something Dianne was not so happy about. Things at the Criminal Law Department had gotten quiet lately, and whether they knew it nor not, the other was feeling miserable, although Lily could not figure out why.

One morning, Lily was trying to sign some papers, trying to busy herself with work, but her mind kept drifting back to what had happened. She kept on evaluating herself, and found out that James was right, and she felt horrible for it.

She had wanted to apologize to James ever since, but negative thoughts held her back. What if he didn't accept her apology? What if they would have another row again, which resulted in ruining whatever mixed-up relationship they had? Yet still, she could not understand why she was feeling so much misery and guilt.

"I've fought with him before, so why do I feel so bad now?" Lily wondered to herself. Before she could continue thinking, her door suddenly flew open and Sirius Black barged in.

Lily stood up. "Sirius, I didn't know you were coming, what's wrong?" she asked him, frowning a bit.

For once Sirius did not look amused or happy. On the contrary, his eyes were dark, and he seemed quite angry. "What's wrong? You want to know what's wrong, Lily? Fine. _You_ are".

"Sirius, I don't know what you're talking about," Lily said, now looking troubled.

"I think you know perfectly well what I'm talking about, Lily," Sirius said, his eyes spitting fire and his fists clenched. "I'm tired, okay? All these years, ever since James was thirteen years old, I have stood and watched him practically beg on his hands and knees for your attention, and I have stood and watched you always ripping his heart out and breaking it into pieces. For goodness' sake, Lily, haven't you ever wondered if James was hurt every time you rejected him? Of course he was! I had to be the one to cheer him up, to pick up his heart and put it back into place. It's always been like that, even now, and I can't stand it anymore!"

"Sirius, I----"

"And you know what the worst part is? Every time, every damn time this happens, it's always James who's left wondering what he did wrong. Every time, he always asks me, 'Sirius, what did I do wrong this time?', I'm sick of it! But you know what really agitates me? It's the fact that, no matter how much you shatter his heart, no matter how many times you step on it, James is still always there, ready to give everything for you, and you don't even realize it!"

Lily was shocked frozen. How could she have not known this? As slight tears blurred her vision a bit, she said, "Look, Sirius, you don't have the right to just barge right in here while I'm working just to yell at me for always rejecting your best friend!"

"No, Lily, you don't get it. You're doing more than just rejecting James, your slowly ruining his life! His whole world revolves around you, can't you bloody see that! He once told me that one way or another, he'd get you to love him, and I supported him all the way. But you know what? Enough is enough, I've had it! Look, you may be my friend, but I can't just stand here and watch you destroy my best friend's life!" Sirius snapped. "Do you know that he didn't go to work today? He was so upset about what happened; he's crashing at his house, refusing to leave, because he felt so guilty about yelling at you".

"Sirius," Lily said, her voice quivering as she spoke. "It's not my fault that he's acting so crazily over me! I can't help it, but for goodness' sake, didn't you even stop to think that I'd feel bad whenever he looked downcast because of me! I'm not that cold, you know!"

"But it is your fault! He's ruining his own life, all because of you, and I don't understand why," Sirius said, as he continued to stare at her with those dark, enigmatic pools of grayish-blue, staring at her so intensely that Lily felt like he was boring into her soul, as if to awaken all the guilt- for which had all been her fault- and bring it to the surface. And good god, it was working. "After all," he added snappishly. "From what I've seen, you're just not worth it".

And with that, he turned on his heel and left, leaving a dumbstruck Lily behind. Once the door closed, she slowly made her way back and sat down. That being done, she buried her face in her hands, and once again, stray tears began to escape.

She hated herself right now; not only had she ruined her work relationship with James, who was almost bordering on becoming her friend, since she realized now that all her active, _actual_, hate had slowly faded with only annoyance remaining, and that all the times she had said, "I hate you," were just exaggerated, but she also had one of her oldest and closest friends mad at her. She groaned, knowing that she had supremely messed up big time.

..------..

The next Monday, Lily arrived at her usual time at the Ministry. Her expression was vacant, and had a tinge of sorrow in it. She had made a decision, and she planned to apologize to James as soon as she arrived and after she got settled in her office. She went inside her office, and was surprised to see two dozen white roses on her desk.

Smiling softly to herself, she went to her table and took in the beautiful sight and the lovely smell of the roses. She found the ivory card among them. She opened it and read it.

_I'm sorry, forgive me?_

_James_

Her heart churned with guilt and a lump rose in her throat. Composing herself, she took a deep breath, left her office, and went to James's room.

She found him standing, watching the view from his window, staring intently into it. Lily approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey," she said softly.

James gave her a half smile as he turned away from the window. "Hey. I take it you received my flowers?"

"Yes, they were lovely." Lily paused, and blurted out, "James, I forgive you. Actually, I'm sorry. You shouldn't even be apologizing, everything was my entire fault".

"Lily, come on. I yelled as well, I had just as much fault as you".

She shook her head. "No. I was too caught up in myself that I failed to recognize that you were just trying to make me a better lawyer. And," she shifted uncomfortably, and then continued, "I'm sorry about something else too. I guess I never realized how much I hurt you whenever I rejected you, Sirius was completely right-----"

"Wait a minute, Sirius talked to you about that?" James questioned. When Lily gave him a look, he thought, "I have to talk to him". Turning once more to Lily, he said, "Look, I said sorry, you said sorry, we forgave each other. So we're okay, right?" He smiled at her. "Back to being civil co-workers then?"

Lily grinned and shook her head. "No," she said simply. Upon seeing James's bewildered expression, she laughed lightly and continued, "I've been thinking it over, and I've figured that all my active hate has faded. Only I'm sometimes annoyed at you, but hey, it's natural. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is--Friends?"

James had a thrown aback expression on his face. "Fr-friends?" he managed to choke out.

"Well, if you don't want to---"

"No, no, I want to. You don't know how long I've waited for you to say this. Friends it is," James said, grinning like a five year-old who had just received his long-awaited Christmas present.

"Right. Well, I'll see you later then," Lily said, smiling as she gave a glance at James, who grinned back. She then left James's office and headed for her own, feeling more light-hearted and happy than she had felt in weeks.

..------..

The week passed without much incident. Everyone was adjusting to having Lily and James being in the same room together without a fight erupting, but everyone was pleased all the same. Finally, they could get their peace and sanity back. Or whatever was left of it, that is.

"So Lily," James said one evening as he strolled into her office to find her reading a rather thick book. "Are you coming to the Order meeting tonight?"

Lily looked up from her book, gave him a small smile, and said, "Of course I am. We can't afford to miss it, not at a time like this".

James nodded in agreement as he took a seat nearest to her. He just spent the next minutes looking at her as she read the book, as if memorizing every intricate detail of her face, of the way she tucked her hair when it went to her face, or of the way she bit her lip when she was frustrated.

"You know James," Lily suddenly said, not looking up from her book and pulling James out of his trance, "If you persist on looking at me so much, then I suggest you take a picture, as it'll last longer".

Feeling quite embarrassed at being found out so easily, James cleared his throat and said, "Who said I was looking at you? I was, uh…..staring at the plant behind you!"

Lily finally looked up with an amused, almost mocking smile on her face. "The plant? James, I don't have plants in my office, in case you haven't noticed".

"You're enjoying every minute of making me uncomfortable, aren't you?"

"Well yes, I believe I am," Lily smirked as she stood up and placed the book back on the shelf.

"Lily," James said after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "What did Sirius say to you?"

Lily turned to face him, her expression unreadable. "It doesn't matter, James, he just came here to talk about something, that's all".

James frowned, looking thoroughly annoyed at being kept in the dark, but said nothing. After awhile he said, "Lily, you want to go to the meeting together? I mean, it is almost seven, and we are still here, so, how about it?"

"Sure, whatever. That'd be fine," Lily replied shortly.

When it was almost seven, Lily and James got themselves ready, and after giving a signal at each other, Apparated out of sight.

..------..

"Sometimes I hate Apparating," Lily muttered as she fell suddenly onto the cold, stone floor of a deserted hallway that was dimly lit by torches.

"Sometimes I hate Dumbledore and Moody for the over-tight security," James muttered too as the two helped themselves up. They straightened themselves out and walked to the end of the corridor until they found the door.

James took out his wand and gave it a wave, and instantly, the door went open to reveal a very busy Order of the Phoenix inside a circular room, all seated and waiting for Alastor Moody, who was sitting in for Albus Dumbledore since he couldn't make it to that meeting, to begin speaking.

"Potter, Evans, your late," Moody barked as they entered. All heads turned in amazement and surprise at seeing the two together. Surely they didn't go together? After all, they were constantly acting like children and bickering, how would they stand each other if they went together?

Lily checked her watch and said tiredly, "We're late by one minute, Alastor, _one minute_".

"One minute!" Moody barked, raising his voice. "What if you had been late one minute while in a fight? Huh? What would have happened then? You might be killed, someone else might be killed, or Voldemort might escape just because of that one minute you lost. This is training for you, you know!"

"Crazy……." Sirius Black muttered to himself.

Lily and James only gave each other amused, almost exasperated glances before they took their seats, James beside Sirius and Lily beside Alice Longbottom. When everyone's heads turned towards him, Moody cleared his throat and began to speak.

The meeting had gone smoothly enough. They were almost over when Moody said, "Now, I need two people to keep an eye on some people who we suspect are Death Eaters. We need someone from the Ministry". Before anyone could volunteer, Moody spoke again, making everyone jump in their seats in surprise. "Potter, Evans!" he said. "I want the both of you to do it, working together, no arguments".

Everyone looked at the two as they stood up, waiting for an objection from Lily. But much to their amazement, Lily simply smiled at James and said, "Alright, we'll do it. It's no problem, right James?"

"Not at all," James said, grinning.

Suddenly, Moody jumped and looked at the two suspiciously. "Alright," he said slowly. "Admit it. Who are you and what have you done with the real James Potter and Lily Evans?"

Lily and James laughed. "Alastor, it's us, nothing happened. Well, we decided to quit being childish and become friends, that's all," James explained.

Moody still looked at them weirdly and said nothing. He stared at them through his magical eye, then, seemingly satisfied, turned away from them.

A squeak of a chair was suddenly heard as Sirius Black suddenly stood up from his seat and said hurriedly "Eh, Moody, I've got to go. I'll see you lot later" and with that, he exited through the door, closing it quite forcefully.

Lily looked at Sirius's retreating figure worriedly, knowing exactly what was wrong. James looked troubled as well. Moody simply stared at the door, shook his head and said, "Eh, let him go. We're done here anyway. Remember what I've told you, and you'll be alerted on the next meeting soon". And with that the people stared filing out of the room.

Lily and James were among the last to leave. Lily found James taking his coat and striding purposely out the door.

"Where are you going after?" Lily asked him.

"I'm going to see Sirius and sort this out. You see how he left when I announced that we were friends? I don't like it. He's been giving you nasty looks since you got here. Heck, he's been acting strange all week, and I want to find out why," he said determinedly as he gave her a goodbye and Apparated out of the place.

Lily sighed, and left as well, guilt weighing down on her like a ton of bricks at what just happened. When she reached home, her only hope was just that, whatever the outcome of Sirius and James's talk would be would not damage their friendship in any way.


	8. Fight Over Friendship

**Thank you, thank you for the reviews! I never imagined that I'd get ten reviews again just for one chapter. It means a lot to me that you seem to like my story, no matter how strange it sometimes is. Anyway, many of you have asked why Sirius is acting so strange. I now reveal the answer here………**

Chapter 8

**Fights Over Friendship**

James found Sirius pacing the floor of his flat angrily, a furious expression on his face. "Padfoot, what's wrong with you? You've been acting all weird this week, and I want to know why, it's not like you! You haven't cracked a joke in a week, you didn't want to meet the rest of us for a drink and you've been shooting nasty looks at Lily ever since she arrived at the Order meeting, what's up?"

"What's wrong with me?" Sirius asked, his fists clenched as he turned to face James angrily, his expression clouded over in fury. "You want to know what the hell is _wrong with me_? Well then, why don't you ask your _precious Lily_? I think she knows perfectly well what's wrong with me!"

Now looking troubled, James countered, "Sirius, what are you talking about?"

"Oh don't play dumb James!" Sirius snapped. "I bet she ran off to you the second I left her office. What she tell you, huh? That'd explain everything!"

"Look Padfoot, Lily didn't tell me anything, nothing at all. Why are you acting like this, why are you being such an overbearing prat!" James snapped, trying to keep his voice even. Sirius couldn't take it anymore.

"I'M NOT THE ONE ACTING LIKE AN OVERBEARING PRAT, JAMES, YOU ARE!" He yelled.

"YOU KNOW WHAT SIRIUS INSTEAD OF SHOOTING INSULTS AT ME YOU COULD AT LEAST TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN BUGGING YOU!" James yelled as well.

"FINE! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S BEEN BUGGING ME?" Sirius ground out. "IT'S THE FACT THAT I SEEM TO BE THE ONLY ONE WHO ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT STILL KEEPING OUR FRIENDSHIP TOGETHER!"

James was taken aback. What? He couldn't believe that his best mate had said that. "Sirius, mate, what are you talking about, all of us still care about keeping our friendship together, what is wrong with you?"  
"You think, James?" Sirius gave a harsh laugh that James did not like one bit. "Evaluate yourselves, and look. All of you changed, we're slowly drifting apart, and not one of you seems to care!"

"Drifting apart? Sirius, that never happened, your being completely ridiculous!"  
"Am I? No. When we became friends, all of us swore that there'd be no secrets between us, no time spent apart unless necessary, and most importantly, the Marauders first over girls! All of you have broken our pact, you know. Peter isn't telling us a lot of things anymore, Remus hardly spends time with us because of his job, and you are too busy gallivanting with your darling Lily to make time for your friends! I supported you all the time you wanted to get Lily, but now that I realize what kind of an effect she has on you, I've had it!"

"Padfoot is that what you think? For goodness sake, Sirius, things are different now! We're not at Hogwarts anymore, damn it!"

"Things wouldn't be different, James, if you lot hadn't changed! I'm the only one who's remained the same, and I don't think I like seeing the new you!"

James had had enough. "DAMN IT SIRIUS, WE DID NOT CHANGE, WE GREW UP! WE STOPPED BEING CHILDISH, BUT THAT DIDN'T MEAN WE'D STOP BEING FRIENDS! WE'RE NOT AT HOGWARTS ANYMORE, SIRIUS, WHERE WE CAN PLAY PRANKS JUST FOR LAUGHS AND FEEL SAFE! WE'RE IN THE REAL WORLD, WITH REAL DANGERS, AND BEING CHILDISH ISN'T GOING TO HELP ANYONE, SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST GROW UP AS WELL!"

James slowed down and gasped, hardly believing in what he had just said. Never, in his life, had he yelled to Sirius like that, and frankly he was apprehensive about the repercussions that would come with his words.

Sirius looked pale, shocked from James's outburst. He was struggling with himself, looking like he wanted to hit the person in front of him, but refrained himself, but seeming as if it took all his willpower to do so.

"Fine," Sirius said in a deathly quiet voice. James didn't like his voice, it unnerved him, and he would have preferred if Sirius had yelled. "You probably think that I'm overreacting. But you want to know why this upsets me so much? Because all my life, your three have been the only family I've known. I couldn't care less about my real one, and obviously they don't give a damn about me too. But you guys, you accepted me for me, and not for my name, and I'd never forget that. I care so much because you guys have been the closest to family I've got, and I don't think I can bear the thought that I might lose that as well".

James was struck. Guilt weighed down on him like a thousand bricks, and his head was reeling. He tried to speak, but Sirius beat him to it. "James just go. Go home, go to Lily, I don't care, just leave me the hell alone" he said in the same voice.

Knowing that he couldn't talk to Sirius anymore, James simply turned and Apparated out of his best friend's flat.

He found himself in front of a mahogany door. He knew exactly where he was and, taking a deep breath, he knocked thrice. On the third knock the door opened.

"James? What are you doing here, it's ten thirty in the evening," Lily Evans said in surprise when she saw James Potter standing in her doorway, looking grim.

"Lily?" James replied sadly. "Can we talk?"

..------..

They found themselves in a nearby neighborhood park across Lily's apartment building. They sat on the swings, swaying softly, basking in silence, which James broke.

"Sirius and I fought tonight," he said softly, not looking at her and instead staring into the night sky.

"Oh no……." Lily said just as softly, her heart wrenching with guilt as her worst fears were confirmed.

"He took the fact that we were now friends the wrong way. He thinks that the Marauders are slowly drifting apart, and he doesn't want that to happen," he said, the pain and sadness in his voice unmistakable to mask.

"But that's not happening…….." Lily said carefully.

"Of course it's not, and I told him that. He wouldn't listen. We fought, and I told him to grow up. Then….he told me that the only reason why he was so upset over this was because we've been the closest to family he's got, and he feels as if he's about to lose us. Peter's been very secretive these days, Remus is busy with work, and he's afraid I'm losing myself to you, not that it's true," he added hastily as he saw Lily's guilty expression.

"Is that what he told you? I mean, did he tell you the same things he told me?" James asked her suddenly.

Lily looked up from the ground. "What? No. He didn't say that, he said something entirely different. But I don't think you should know, it's between me and him, don't worry about it". She glanced at James and she had a suspicion that James already knew exactly what his best friend had said to her.

They sat in companionable silence for awhile, James looking up at the ground and Lily looking at the stars. Finally, Lily said softly, "Hey. Don't worry, he'll come around. Or you could apologize first, whichever. I know the both of you well enough, and you know better than to just throw away ten years of friendship over some fight".

James smiled at Lily's soothing voice. This is why he loved Lily so much; she could make the best out of nay situation, make things seem alright even though it wasn't.

"Listen James, I have to go. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, and we need some sleep. I suggest you do the same. I'll see you in the morning, alright?" she said firmly as she gave James a quick hug and went to her flat, leaving James in the playground.

Once Lily had reached her flat and shut the door, she slumped to the couch, suddenly not feeling so sleepy. She tried to sort out her feelings, all her guilt and sadness, not to mention her feelings for James, which had recently confused her to no end, since, whether she knew it or not, they were changing slowly.

Back in his own home, James sat on his table, nursing a cup of coffee, trying to think and hoping that everything would turn back to normal soon.

**There! So sorry for the short chapter, I don't seem to have anything else to add as of now. You see, I'm quite busy writing a new book to occupy myself, and my concentration is more on it. I'll try to update soon, but I can't make any promises. Until then, hope you liked this, read, and review please!**


	9. A Stepping Stone

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except a few characters you don't recognize.

Chapter 9

**A Stepping Stone**

The month passed without much incident, aside from the fact that Lily and James were getting closer, and Sirius refused to talk to James, no matter how much James tried to apologize. The trial that James and Lily had initially fought over had just ended, and needless to say, the judge was surprised by the lack of unnecessary arguments between the two. The verdict was released a few days later, and it proclaimed Lily's client guilty, meaning that James had won the case.

Another two days later, and Lily and James were at a café that was nearby the Ministry. It was their lunch break and they had decided to go to lunch together. As they ate, they were talking about random things or anything at all that sparked their interest. The two carefully didn't mention their problems with Sirius, as they knew it would ruin the light-hearted atmosphere.

"So James," Lily asked him as she sipped her iced tea. "Did you hear about the case Camilla Parkland filed against Dave Helperman?"

"You mean the one about the restaurant they co-owned, and she claimed that he was threatening her to give him her share of the profits too?" James asked her. "Yeah, I heard about that. Crazy case. Personally though, I think Helperman's innocent".

"What?" Lily said in disbelief. "How can you say that? It makes no sense, where do you base your opinions upon?"

"Well, evidence and credibility, for one thing," James replied as he put down his cup of coffee. "Dave Helperman is a big name in the restaurant business, and he's known as a very honest businessman. He has no bad record. Besides, the security spells that have been placed around the restaurant and at any plausible location didn't show that he ever threatened her for money".

"But he's the owner, and more importantly, he's a wizard, it'd have been very easy for him to remove the spell when he was taking threatening her and taking the money. Trust me, I'm positive that's he guilty," Lily countered.

James's eyes sparkled. "Now, Ms. Evans, would you be willing to bet on that?"

Lily grinned as she replied, "Yes, I believe so, Mr. Potter. So you're betting that he's innocent, and I'm betting that he's guilty. Whoever is right wins".

"Deal. We'll even go personally to see when the verdict is released," James said as an idea popped into his head and he smiled cunningly. "And as for the terms, loser gets to buy the other dinner".

Lily smiled and said "Deal". Not once did the thought cross her mind that whatever the outcome of their bet would be would, one way or another, grant her a night out with James, something that she had vowed never to do.

They shook on it, then without warning, they burst into uncontrollable laughter, making the other people around them stare.

"We better go James, lunch is almost over and people are starting to stare," Lily said amid gales of laughter. James put some money on the table, and they stood up.

Lily and James decided to walk back to the Ministry instead of Apparating. It was a beautiful day, and they both felt so elated and comfortable in each other's presence.

And as they talked, she found James flash her a wonderful smile, and Lily Evans could not help but feel her heart flutter wildly as she glanced in his direction as she returned the gesture.

..------..

"The court finds Mr. David Alexander Helperman, guilty for the crime of extortion, and is hereby sentenced to five years imprisonment in the Lower Prison (**AN:** a prison I created that is made for less-severe crimes, since I thought that Azkaban was just too severe) and a fine of two hundred galleons. So ordered," the judge said two weeks later. As she banged her mallet, a collective murmur rose up as Helperman was taken away and people began to leave.

"See? What did I tell you?" Lily smirked at James triumphantly as they left the courtroom, "He was guilty! Haha, I won!" Then she began in a singsong voice, "I won the bet, I won the bet……." It gradually segued into, "I am the best, I am the best...!"

"And she accuses me of being arrogant," James muttered to himself, yet smiling as he looked at Lily being so happy, finding it wonderfully adorable.

As they reached their office, James said, "So you won and I lost. Fair enough. And we did agree that loser buys the other dinner, so how about Friday night, seven o'clock?"

"James……" Lily said slowly, a slow smile forming on her lips, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Well I—"James was about to say but caught himself. In that instant, he realized that, bet or no bet, he realized that if he said yes, Lily might not want to go out with him, that she might reject him again like she did all those times long ago. So instead, he said, "No. It's not a date, just a dinner between two friends who got involved in a bet, that's all".

"Oh," Lily said, biting back a surprised tone in her voice. "Well, in that case then, sure! I'd love to".

"Great," James smiled. He looked up at his watch and said, "Lils, we'll talk more later. I just remembered, I have a meeting to attend to right now. See you later!" He gave her a final smile, and then left in the opposite direction.

Lily walked to her office, an elated smile on her face. Once she was there, she shut the door and sat down to contemplate on what had just happened.

"I can't believe that I'm actually having dinner with James……" she said, unable to keep that grin off her face. She replayed that conversation that they had in her mind, and for some strange reason, she felt a strange twitch of disappointment when he said that it wasn't a date.

"Why though?" she asked herself, still thinking as she sighed. "I mean, it's just dinner, one dinner, it doesn't really mean anything right? Besides, I'd never go out on an actual date with James, it's just too weird," Yet the twinge of disappointment stayed with her all day, and slowly, Lily was beginning to realize why.

You see, deep down, Lily knew that, if James did say that it was a date, if he did say that he was asking her out, she would have said yes to him all the same.

..------..

"Do I look alright, James did say wear something pretty classy," Lily thought to herself as she surveyed herself in the mirror. It was Friday night, and any minute now, James would arrive to take her to dinner.

Just as she took her purse, there was a knocking heard on the door and Lily practically skipped towards it. She took a deep breath, turned the knob and opened the door, expecting James to be behind it.

"Hello Lily dear, I was wondering if I could borrow some butter? I'm baking cookies for my grandchildren, but I seem to have run out," Mrs. Blair, Lily's elderly neighbor, said, smiling at her.

Lily's heart sank considerably but nevertheless, she said with a somewhat forced smile, "Of course Mrs. Blair, just a minute," and with that she walked to the kitchen.

As she looked around her refrigerator for her butter dish, she wondered why she was unnaturally excited. It was only dinner right? She also couldn't understand why she felt so disappointed when she saw that James wasn't at the door. Basically, she couldn't understand her feelings nowadays.

She walked to the door a few minutes later, carrying a silver dish. "Here you go, Mrs. Blair," Lily said as she handed it to her neighbor.

"Thanks Lily, I'll return it in the morning," Mrs. Blair said as she accepted the dish with a grateful smile. "And by the way dear, you look amazing; he won't be able to take his eyes off of you".

Lily cleared her throat and blushed as the elderly woman left. Lily closed her door and gave out a sigh as she walked to her couch and sat down.

Lily waited…….and waited…….and waited. James was now ten minutes late, and Lily was starting to get impatient. Just as she thought about changing back into her housedress, a knock was heard on the door. Lily jumped and rushed to it, and opened it quickly, to reveal James, wearing a semi-formal attire and looking out of breath.

"You're late," Lily said pointedly as she let him in.

"Not exactly the greeting I was expecting, but it'll have to do," James remarked. "And I would like to think of myself as fashionably late, for your information," he added haughtily.

"You do realize that that statement, accompanied with your tone of voice, made you sound incredibly gay," Lily pointed out.

"I resent that," James said. A silence fell upon them as the minutes ticked by, and slowly, Lily was tapping her foot, her arms folded, an impatient expression on her face.

"Well?" Lily said impatiently after a few minutes, "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" James asked her, confused.

"My apology, you idiot!" Lily practically blew up. "First tell me to dress up in a nice, semi-formal dress, you keep me waiting and you show up ten minutes late for a dinner you yourself set the time for, then I have to remind you to apologize? Unbelievable!"

For some reason, James didn't look too remorseful. "Alright, Lils, I am sorry," James said, laughter dancing across his eyes, "But if I remember correctly, I told you to wear a _semi-formal_ dress. Not a _nice_ dress. There's a difference, you know".

Lily sighed in irritation. "James, are we going or not?" she asked him impatiently.

James replied, "Yeah, come on. Let's go; we don't want to miss our reservation, after all". He offered out his hand to Lily, and she took it, somewhat reluctantly.

"James, I think we have already missed it," Lily pointed out. "You did tell me to be ready at seven, so won't that mean that our reservation will be at that time?"

To her surprise, James merely grinned. "No. You see, I knew that I would be late, so our reservation is at 7:30". Lily simply gave him an exasperated glance as, with a loud POP, the two Apparated away.

..------..

"Right this way, Sir and Madame," the maitre'd said graciously to Lily and James after checking their names on the clipboard. He led the couple towards a table and, after they were seated, gave them their menus and hurried off.

"Well, your taste in restaurants makes up for being a complete idiot at my house, that's for sure," Lily said approvingly as she studied the menu.

James hid a grin behind his menu. You see, his plan was to make this dinner as un-date like as possible. He was thinking that if he gave her flowers, didn't annoy her at all, and basically everything that went on in a proper date, Lily might get freaked out, and he didn't want that to happen. But in the process, he wanted to be sweet too and take her out to nice places, so Lily would think him as quite a decent guy.

They summoned a waiter and gave their orders. After the waiter left, James and Lily turned to each other. "I'm taking you like it then?" James asked her, grinning. "I guess this more than covers our bet".

"Yes, I believe so," Lily said, laughing slightly. "By the way James, did I ever tell you that I love Italian cooking?"

"No, but I'll have to keep that mind for future references," James answered. Before they could say anything more, the waiter arrived bringing with him their food.

They ate right away, savoring the wonderful taste of their meal, and occasionally talked between mouthfuls. The atmosphere was light and content, and accompanied by the slow strains of the violin and the sounds of the accordion, all made for a great time.

Lily found herself enjoying his company immensely. James was a very easy person to talk too, and in the presence of food, he really opened up. She found herself smiling more than she had all week in his company.

James was having a great time too. He loved seeing Lily laugh, particularly at something he said, and the way her eyes sparkled made him smile. There was a light banter here and there of course, but they both ended each and every one of it with doubling over in laughter.

All too soon for their liking, the last crumbs of dessert was gone, and James had just settled the bill. Lily glanced at her watch and said, "Hey, it's still 9 o'clock".

"Really?" James said, surprised. "I thought that it was later than that. Say," an idea came into his mind. "Do you want to take a walk on the beach? I know a great place".

"The beach?" Lily laughed lightly. "You want us to go to the beach at 9 in the evening? When you know that I'm wearing high heels?"

"Take them off when we get there then," James suggested. "It's much better walking barefoot anyway. Come on, it'll be great. Please?" He gave her his best pleading-puppy-dog expression.

Lily laughed upon seeing his face. "Alright, alright, we'll go. Besides, who can resist your face when it looks like a seriously demented and sad clown?"

James rearranged his features at once.

With a light scrape of the chairs, Lily and James stood up and walked out of the restaurant. Once there, James offered his hand and Lily took it, and with another loud POP, they were gone once again.

..------..

The wind was blowing steadily as Lily and James walked across the warm sand of the beach, the soothing sounds of the waves crashing onto the shore and the soft glow of the lights adding to the supremely relaxed atmosphere. As they walked, their chatter resumed again.

"I love the beach at night, you know," Lily told James softly. "When I was little, whenever my family went to the beach, I'd always sleep in the afternoon so I could be up all night. I'd just go and sit by the water, and listen. It always made me smile".

"Uh-huh," was all James said as he looked at Lily, who had a very calm and quietly happy expression on her face.

"And now the fact that you're here makes it even greater," Lily suddenly thought. The second she thought that, she mentally slapped herself. What was that? How could she have thought that? She didn't like him _that_ way, did she?

"I have a favorite memory of the beach too," James said, turning to her, smiling. "I was eight, and we decided to go for a family vacation. I'd just run around the beach, and my dad would just chase me around, but he'd never catch me. Used to say I was too fast for him. Mum would always be laughing, it was great. I miss it".

"Hmm?" Lily said, gazing at her companion questionably.

"We didn't go back to the beach for a long time," James admitted to her softly. "Dad got sick a lot of times after that, so he couldn't get out much. He's fine now though; you remember during graduation?"

"Yeah, how could I forget," Lily said, smiling and looking pointedly at James at the recollection.

A sudden glint came to his eyes. "You know what? I really missed those times he chased me around, and when we used to play in the sand, and I wonder if…………"

Lily, sensing his plan, said quickly, "Oh no, no, James, don't!" But it was no use. James already had a glint in his eyes and suddenly, Lily broke into a run, laughing. James of course, followed her.

"Oh no, James, you are not throwing me in the sand, you'll have to catch me first!" Lily yelled happily. They continued their chase for a few minutes, until James finally caught up with her. He swung an arm around her waist and flung her around, laughing.

"James, let me go!" Lily said, laughing delightedly as she tried to get out of his grasp. The two suddenly lost their balance, and they fell on the powdery sand…...

……with James on top of Lily.

Time seemed to stop. Lily and James could feel their hearts beating wildly as they stared into each others eyes, their faces separated by only a few inches. Suddenly……..

"James, are you planning on getting off of me any time soon?" Lily asked him, laughter in her eyes.

James reddened and said, "Oh yeah, sorry about that". They got up and dusted themselves off, their hearts still beating wildly at what might have been, Lily's especially.

"James, um, I think I'd better go home. It's late, and I uh, I have something to do tomorrow, somewhere to be, and I can't be late for it," Lily told him slowly.

James looked quite taken aback but said "Alright then. You feel like walking? This beach is just nearby to your apartment".

"What? Oh sure, let's go," was all Lily said. There was silence as they walked back to Lily's apartment, both thinking about what had just happened.

Once they arrived in front of Lily's door, she opened it and went inside. James stayed at the doorway. "Well, goodnight James. I had a great time," Lily said, a small blush creeping to her cheeks as she smiled at him.

"Yeah, goodnight Lily, I had a great time too. Well, see you Monday then," James said as he left, thinking, "Urgh, that was not supposed to happen. Now I bet she's going to think that I'm pushing her or something. That was more date-like than I would have preferred, I am so stupid".

Meanwhile, in her apartment, Lily closed the door and slumped to the floor, closing her eyes. "Oh my goodness, what the hell happened back there?" Lily thought to herself. Just the thought of that made Lily's heart beat wildly once more. She stood up and went to her room, still replaying the events in her head.

And for some reason, she went to sleep with a huge smile on her face.


	10. Getting Even Closer

**I Never Gave Up**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except a few characters you don't recognize. The rest belongs to the great genius, J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Ten

**Getting Even Closer**

The sunlight streamed into the room the next Monday morning, bringing with it its harsh glare. As Lily awoke, she sighed, wondering what this day would bring. Things at the office seemed to be more eventful since James had arrived at the office, and now, more so than usual.

Lily flung away the covers of her bed and checked the time. In a flurry of panic, she noticed that she was already fifteen minutes late for work!

She stepped onto her bathroom and took a quick shower. After doing her morning rituals, she dressed into her typical office outfit and went to her kitchen. Once she had a hurried breakfast and washed the dishes, she took her briefcase and Apparated to the office.

She arrived a minute later in front of Dianne's desk. "Good morning, Lily, you're running late today I see," Dianne remarked as her friend passed her with a hurried good-morning.

Once she arrived at her office, she was immensely surprised to find a single white lily flower on her desk. She placed down her bag and smiled as she placed it inside the nearest vase she could find, already knowing who it was from. She found the card and opened it up.

_Hey Lily,_

_I was supposed to send this last Saturday, but it seems as if my owl was not willing to cooperate aka he was sleeping all day. So, here it is now. I just wanted to say that I had a great time last Friday. Strange, but nice nevertheless._

_Turn around,_

_James_

Smiling to herself, she placed the card back down on the table and turned around. Sure enough, she found James Potter standing in her doorway, a cup of coffee in his hands and wearing his usual lopsided grin.

"Morning Lily," James greeted her as he stood up and made his way over. "Your late," he added.

"Great, one tardy mark and already everyone notices," Lily grumbled, still looking tired and sleepy. "Yes, I know I'm late, and I have a million things to do, no need to rub it in," she told him.

"Well, I know how to perk up your day," James said as he handed a cup of coffee to her. "Coffee? You look dead on your feet".

"Thanks a lot," Lily said, accepting the cup with a grateful smile. "I didn't get much sleep last night, on account of I was reviewing a case that snake Tyler gave me".

"Yeah Tyler's a jerk, but what can we do? He's the boss," James told her with a mock heavy sigh. Once he saw Lily smile, he said, "Well, I've got to go then. For some reason, Moody wants to see me, and I have to meet him. Later, Lils," and with that, he left, closing the door softly behind him.

Lily shook her head at his retreating figure then sighing, made her way to her chair and finally began to work.

..------..

A knock startled Lily from her deep concentration while she was busy writing something. "It's open," Lily said, not bothering to look up from her work. She heard the sound of shoes scraping the floor, and she knew at once who it was.

"Hey James," Lily greeted warmly as she finally put her quill down and looked up from her work. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering if you wanted to join me for lunch, there's a new café that opened just a few blocks away and I wanted to try it out. Besides, I want to tell you something," James offered, looked expectantly up at her.

Lily gave him a half smile as she stood up and said, "Sure, why not? Come on". She took her bag and followed him outside the Ministry. They walked and walked, talking and laughing all the way until they reached the café and went inside.

Twenty minutes later, they were eating their lunch, which proved to be simply scrumptious. "James," Lily said as she finally put down her fork and faced his friend. "What was it that you were about to tell me?"

James's face broke into a huge grin. "Lily," he told her exultantly. "Sirius and I are friends again!"

Lily choked on her mango juice. "What?" she said, coughing a bit. Once the initial shock had worn over, however, she smiled and said, "That's great! See, I told you, you both couldn't stay mad at each other for long!"

"I guess so," James said, still grinning. "We both sat down, and had a serious talk about everything. So, we're cool now".

"Awesome!" Lily said. Then her smile faltered as she said, "Now I only hope Sirius isn't too mad to talk to _me_. I've been trying to contact him, but, nothing so far".

"Lily, don't worry, we talked about that too," James assured her. "Sirius wants to apologize for whatever he said, but I don't know, he's quite busy these days, what with the threat of You Know Who rising, and his own damn pride is preventing him. But no worries, he'll come around soon".

"Hmm," Lily said. She sighed then gave James a look. He smiled at her and Lily felt her heart flutter wildly again. The moment she felt it, she mentally cursed herself. There was definitely something wrong with her.

"Hey Lily? Do you mind if we leave already, I have a client to meet in fifteen minutes," James asked.

Lily shook her head to clear her thoughts and said, "No, of course not. Let's go". James settled the bill, much to Lily's annoyance since he had insisted on paying for her as well. They walked back to the Ministry in silence, both of them preoccupied with their own thoughts.

..------..

And that's how it always went for the rest of the month. James and Lily would go out for lunch or dinner, or sometimes they would just hang out in Lily or James's house, watching movies (Lily introduced him to it) or just going to the opera and others. They were increasingly becoming closer, and Lily's feelings for him were getting more muddled up by the day, but whenever she was with him, she just seemed to forget all her problems.

Everyone in the Ministry had already noticed the developments that were going on between the two best lawyers in wizarding England. Rumors had already began to circulate, and though Lily and James only ignored them and went on with their business as usual, Lily couldn't help but feel quite bothered.

One morning, Lily woke up to a loud tapping at her window. She went out of her bed and found an owl rapping at her window, bearing the Daily Prophet. She let the owl in, and after paying it, she relieved it of its burden and it took off.

Lily fixed herself some breakfast, and sitting down with her cup of coffee, she turned to open and read the newspaper. "Nothing new," Lily thought absently as she flicked through the first few pages of the Prophet. "Killings, killings, bargain scandal, more killings, advertisements and—WHAT!"

Lily yelled the last word in utter shock and disbelief when she reached the Me, Myself, and I column of none other than Ms. Rita Skeeter and made eye-contact with the headline.

_**Lily Evans and James Potter: Together At Last?**_

**Love can be found in the workplace, after all_, writes Ms. Rita Skeeter, renowned columnist and special correspondent. Ms. Lily Elizabeth Evans and Mr. James Michael Potter, officemates in the Criminal Law department and two of the most renowned lawyers in wizarding England and the most internationally acclaimed, prove this statement true. You see, rumors have been circulating over these past few days that these two are now in a serious relationship, and are very much in love, judging from the way they now go on frequent dates and shoot each other loving looks when they are together._**

_**Some of my sources state that when they were still in school, James Potter was quite besotted with the pretty and smart redhead, and constantly chased after her, although she had always rejected his efforts. Now, however, it seems as if the chase is finally over.**_

**_Ms. Evans is a muggleborn witch, who graduated with top honors and was Head Girl during their seventh year. Mr. Potter, on the other hand, who comes from the highly respected and prestigious lineage, is the son of prominent Aurors Richard and Margaret Potter, and is heir to one of the largest fortunes in wizarding Britain._**

_**But how does this relationship fare with their friends? My highly reliable sources say that in Ms. Evans's camp, their friends are highly ecstatic, yet on Mr. Potter's side, there seem to be complications involving Mr. Sirius Black. Hmm, is there a love triangle going on there?**_

**_Now, as their sudden, whirlwind romance sets forth and becomes sweeter every day, there is speculation of a marriage proposal sometime within the month. Meanwhile, we here at the Daily Prophet offer our sincerest congratulations for the couple, as we hope for wedding bells to chime soon._**

Lily's face now complimented her hair brilliantly after she put down the paper. She was breathing slowly and loudly, trying to calm herself down. Once that was done, she quickly did all of her morning rituals, and Apparated directly to the lobby of the Criminal Law Department and marched directly to James's office, much to the whispering of everyone there, bringing the newspaper along with her.

"James, have you seen this!" Lily yelled as she entered and slapped the newspaper in front of James Potter, startling him from his work.

"Good morning to you too, Lily," James said, grinning. He looked down at the article Lily had shown them and his smile faltered. "Oh no". He sighed heavily and began to read it, Lily looking expectantly up at him. Once he was finished, he carefully put down the Daily Prophet……….

And began laughing uncontrollably.

"James, this isn't a laughing matter!" Lily chided him, looking cross and frantic all at the same time. "Now the whole of Wizarding England thinks that we're dating, and that we're in love! For god's sake, they even think that we're about to be engaged, and still you have the sense to laugh! Aren't you bothered?"

"Lily, calm down," James told her in between laughs. When they subsided, he continued, the laughter still dancing in his eyes, "No one is going to believe this, everyone knows Rita Skeeter's reputation for exaggerating stories, don't worry".

"_No_ _one is going to believe this_?" Lily hissed at him, taking him by surprise. "James, people believe what they read, and the fact that we do go out, even if it is still purely friendly, will make them believe this rubbish even more. I want a retraction from this horrible woman!"

James sighed tiredly, as though now only realizing that Lily was dead serious. "Listen, Lily, you know Skeeter; she's so desperate for any story that she'll turn a friendly outing into a marriage proposal. Just ignore it, don't seem affected, because sooner or later, she's going to find another famous person to victimize, and we'll be old news".

Lily briefly closed her eyes as she sank into the nearest chair. "I know, James, I know, it's just that, I don't want our friendship tainted with something like this I mean, come on, us acting like we're in love? That's ridiculous, right?" When James didn't answer, she repeated more forcefully, "_Right_?"

"What? Oh yes, Lily, your absolutely right," James said in a somewhat distracted manner. He cleared his throat and said, "Well, you'd better get to work; I have a hunch that the people who saw you come in are now wondering what on earth is taking you so long to leave".

Lily stood up and gave him a half-smile. "You're probably right. I'll see you later then, bye". And with that, she took a deep breath, and walked back to her own office, her head held high, the people in the vicinity whispering again. Paying no mind, she went inside and sank down on the nearest chair, her head still reeling with what just happened. Back in James's office, he was thinking the same thing.

And for the first time in his life, James was wishing that Rita Skeeter was right, and that every thing written in the article was accurate.

Neither did he know that a very small, unnoticed part of Lily, which she didn't even realize or acknowledge, was also wishing the same thing.

..------..

"It's not funny Kelsey!" Lily said, trying to sound stern and failing. "Honestly, nothing could be further than the truth!" She and Kelsey were at a nearby restaurant for lunch, and the both of them were talking about Rita's article.

"Lily, come on," Kelsey told her once she had finished laughing. "It isn't really their fault for speculating such a story, I mean, you and James have gone on many dates and---"

"Whoa, whoa, dates?" Lily interrupted her, staring her friend down. "James and I are not dating, we're simply going out as friends".

"Lily, Lily, Lily," Kelsey gave a mock sigh of severity. "A date is defined as a meeting between two people or more in an appointed time with a sole purpose of enjoyment and possible relationship development. And judging from how you guys have been acting lately, you're dating".

"We are not, Kelsey!" Lily protested. "We just happen to like each other's company. I mean, he makes me laugh and smile, and for some reason, he likes my sarcastic humor. So there".

"Whatever you say, Lily," Kelsey told her, shaking her head, wondering why on earth her best friend was so naive.

..------..

Another month rolled by, and it was September. James was right, when Skeeter found another person to victimize, the news of their supposed romance had blown over, but there were still a few whispers here and there. Meanwhile, the both of them had other things in their minds. A big Death Eater case had come up, and James was to work as Prosecutor. It was an especially tough case, and by the end of the week, it had taken its toll on him.

James was as busy as ever, since his case was getting more puzzling and controversial. The death threats he received after uncovering something big were no help either.

Lily was in her office, preparing to leave. An Order meeting had occurred only a while ago, and much to Lily's worry, James had not attended, so she made a point of leaving her things in her office so she could have an excuse to stop by there again.

The office was dark and deserted, since it was close to 9 pm already. Quite unnerved by the eerie silence, Lily took out her wand and cast "Lumos," to give her a small light. She found James's door slightly ajar, so she went inside.

James Potter was sitting asleep on his chair. On his desk there were millions of papers, files, bags, and other paraphernalia. Including a cup of half-drunk coffee. Dropping her things, Lily went to James's side and noted that he looked completely worn out.

"James, James, wake up," Lily whispered, shaking him lightly. Within seconds, he stirred awake, and he snapped to attention.

"Lily, what are you still doing here?" he asked her, still yawning.

"I came to get my things after the Order meeting, which you missed," Lily told him pointedly.

James went white. "Oh damn I totally forgot about it! You see, I was so absorbed in work and……" he didn't let his sentence finish as he turned towards his work once more. Before he could pick up his quill, however, Lily stopped him.

"James, the trial is a week away, for goodness' sake, give yourself a break! Your been working yourself to death, did you even eat any dinner?" Lily told him, frustration, annoyance, and concern laced in her voice.

James silence was taken as a no. Lily sighed and said, "James, look, you need to go home, get something to eat, and sleep. You're going to look like a zombie tomorrow morning, trust me. Go".

"You're not the boss of me," James tried to protest, but he still looked very, very tired.

"I many not be but I am your friend I am very worried about you, and I demand that you do as I say!" Lily told him with all the severity of a mother scolding a child. "Look, you helped me last week, now I'm helping you. Home, now!"

"Lily…….."

"Urgh, this is getting me nowhere," Lily thought to herself. Aloud she said, "Okay, look, James, this is getting ridiculous, please, stop being such a stubborn ass and go home before I go tell Rita Skeeter about all your secrets".

James knew that he was being defeated. He stood up, and took all of his things and stuffed it in her briefcase. "Alright, alright, I'll go home if it makes you happy," he said, managing a wan smile. He gathered his things and Apparted away.

Lily shook her own head, staring at the spot James had been before, before taking her things and leaving for home as well.

..------..

That Friday, the two friends were at James's house, celebrating the fact that James had won the case and that all his efforts had paid off. Lily was trying out a new recipe, and the music from the magical stereo that Lily had enchanted was playing great tunes.

The wonderful smell of food was wafting throughout the apartment as Lily cooked. James could hear the distinct sound of something sizzling and smiled when the delicious aroma hit him. He stood up from the couch and walked over to Lily, who was busily stirring some soup.

"Didn't I tell you not to come into the kitchen?" Lily asked him pointedly as she placed the cover over a pan. "You're supposed to be sitting down, not doing anything else except resting. You deserve it after the week you just went through".

"But I want to help!" James protested, grinning as he took a piece of bread and ate it slowly. "I don't want to sit around, it's boring. Besides, I do want to know what you're making; this is my kitchen you know".

"And it's my mother's recipe, now buzz off. The sooner you stop distracting me, the sooner we get to eat," Lily told him, trying to sound stern but the smile that was forming on her lips somewhat countered her tone.

"Just imagine if we were married, and this happened everyday, I wouldn't know what you were feeding me until I actually ate it, for all I know you might be feeding me poison," James said without thinking. The moment he said it, he mentally slapped himself, as Lily looked at him, blushing a bit and an awkward silence prevailing.

They both broke it by sharing an uneasy laugh, not saying more about the remark, but Lily said teasingly, "Well James, if you don't leave right now, this food might accidentally turn into poison, so I suggest you go, now". James laughed but obeyed her nevertheless. As Lily continued cooking, her mind thought about James's remark. Was he implying anything? The moment she thought it, she shook her head and thought, "No, that's impossible. Get a grip on yourself Lily, before you accidentally burn the steak".

A few more minutes later, the food was ready, and Lily and James sat down to a wonderful dinner. The moment James took the first piece of steak into his mouth, he smiled and after he swallowed, he said "Lily, this is awesome! I didn't know you could cook that well".

"And this is coming from the man who eats whatever is handy, quick to reheat, and is from a can," Lily told him dryly as she took a sip of her wine. She put down her glass ad said, her eyes narrowed, "Are you insulting my culinary skills, James Potter?"

"And what if I am, huh?" James challenged her, a glint in his eyes.

"Well then you can be assured that I won't be cooking for you anymore. And I'll be taking that--" Lily took away James's plate from him, much to his protest.

"Lily!" James said, laughing as he took the plate back and began eating once more. "Alright fine, I take back what I said, you're a good cook, now let me eat!"

And that's how their dinner went. The atmosphere, coupled with the music that was floating all over the room, was lighthearted, and they had a great time just eating and talking. Once they finished, James took his wand and performed a cleaning spell on the dishes, and waved them back to their proper places.

It was already late. The two were now sitting on the couch, exhausted from their dancing which they had done only a few moments ago. They were just laughing together at a memory, enjoying each other's company. In front of them were mugs of hot chocolate, still steaming. A pleasant silence began to envelope them, making them feel perfectly relaxed.

"Thank you," Lily suddenly said, breaking the silence, making James look at her.

"For what?"

"For your friendship," Lily said softly, sighing. "These past few months have been the greatest I've ever had. And I think about Hogwarts, when I used to reject you and insult you, when I could have been your friend……and now…….."

"Lily, stop thinking too much, it'll only give you a headache," James said, grinning. "And if anything, I'm the one that needs to thank you for giving me a chance. These past few months have been great for me too".

Lily smiled, and said nothing. Deciding to take a risk, James put an arm around her shoulder. At first Lily stiffened, but then relaxed. They stayed like that for a few minutes, but then, as if only realizing what was happening, her heart hammered in her chest, and she said, extracting herself out of his embrace with some hesitation, "James, I'd better go. It's getting pretty late".

As she stood up, James stood up as well and said, "Yeah, I guess so. So I'll see you then?"

"Yeah, bye James," and with that, she took her bag and Apparated into her apartment. He watched her leave then sat back down on the couch with a sigh, a goofy expression on his face, wondering if it was possible to love someone so much that you could feel your heart close to bursting.

Back in Lily's apartment, once she arrived, she threw her bag on the coffee table and sank down on her couch, sighing. She sat there, contemplating about her relationship with James lately. It was changing, she knew. From being purely friendly, now, there was a spark of something else. But then, with some horrid realization, she realized that it wasn't their relationship that was changing, it was her _feelings_. Whether she knew it or not, she was already feeling something else for him aside from friendship.

Was it attraction? Caring? Maybe even Love? She didn't know as of now. Her feelings were completely muddled. Her feelings towards James Potter were, at the moment, indefinable. But she knew one thing though: they were strong.

And in a way, that scared her.

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**In my opinion, this chapter has the words Sappy and Fluffy written all over it. **

**I had a bit of a hard time writing this chapter, since I seem to like writing better when the characters fight. I hope that it is alright though. Read and review please, and much love to all of you!**


	11. Christmastime

**I Never Gave Up**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except a few characters you don't recognize. The rest belongs to the great genius, J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Eleven

**Christmastime**

The months rolled by quite uneventfully, until it was finally December. With the coming of the month came a blanket of white snow that enveloped the entire country. The air became colder and frostier, and throughout the world, Christmas trees were suddenly put up, red and green decors were being hung, and Christmas carols began to play on the radio.

Back in the Ministry of Magic, everyone was in a buzz, trying to finish all their remaining work. It was only three days before Christmas, and their last day of work for the year, and they needed to finish everything so they could spend time with their families without any worry or hassle.

Lily was no exception. There wasn't really much to be done for her part, but she absolutely hated just sitting around with nothing to do or no one to talk to. It made her feel restless, so she spent her day fixing up her office, clearing away useless junk and re-organizing her file folder.

A knock on the door startled her and she stood up and closed her cabinet. Before she could say, "Come in," the door opened and, well, who else, but James walked in.

"Hey," Lily said, smiling. "What's up?"

"Hi, Lils," James greeted back, smiling as well. He cleared his throat and said, "Excited for Christmas?"

"Of course! It's my favorite holiday," Lily said, a slow smile spreading across her face. "I remember when I was little, we used to have snowball fights and go sledding, and then mum would make hot chocolate with marshmallows in it. And the presents were great!" she said, her smile turning reminiscent as she remembered all those times.

James laughed lightly and said, "Yeah, I know how you feel. Christmas is great. Listen," he gave her a look then continued, "I was wondering if you'd like to stay at my house for the rest of the holiday? I'm spending Christmas with my parents, and they'd love to meet you, and they said that it was fine, so how about it?"

Lily thought about it for awhile then said, "Well, I'm spending Christmas day with my parents, but I can come on the 27th, if that's alright".

James visibly brightened and said, "Yeah, sure, that'd be great! I'm looking forward to it. We can go to the Ministry New Year's Party together. Sirius and Chelsea are coming too. I invited Remus, Peter, Jeremy and Kelsey too, but Remus is going with his parents to visit some relatives, Peter can't, and Jeremy and Kelsey are spending the week at a ski lodge".

"Hmm," Lily said, smiling. "Can you believe that Sirius and Chelsea are still together? It's so strange to see Sirius Black attached to one woman for more than a year".

"I agree. Chelse is really something though; I mean, any woman who can keep Sirius Black in line is definitely different," James laughed. When he saw Lily's thoughtful expression, he added, "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure that by the end of the holiday, you and Sirius will already be friends again".

"I hope so," Lily sighed, but then shook her head and looked up to give him a half-smile. "Thank you for inviting me, by the way. This Christmas is sure to be different, that's for sure".

"Yeah," James agreed. "Well, I've got to be going. I'm leaving early, you see. Merry Christmas, though". He was about to leave, when he remembered something. "Oh yeah, um, your parents' house is connected to the Floo network, right? Because if it isn't, you'll have to take the Knight Bus to get to my parents' house".

"Oh, it's connected, don't worry. I had it connected in my fifth year," Lily hurriedly explained to him as she placed another folder in her file cabinet.

"Great," James smiled up at her. "So, I guess you could come over at around 10 am? Just say, "Potter Mansion", and you'll find yourself there. See you".

"Yeah, okay," Lily said softly. He left and she sat down on her chair. She was going to spend the rest of the holiday with James and his family. Just the thought of it made her smile, and butterflies erupted in her stomach. Suddenly, her thoughts stopped in their tracks as she remembered what he had said.

_"Mansion?"_

..------..

December 27th, nine forty-five in the morning. James Potter was waiting expectantly by the living room fireplace, pacing the floor impatiently, and his shoes stepping across the hearth carpet. From time to time, he turned to look at the fireplace, then at the clock, wondering why on earth the minutes couldn't tick faster.

"Get a grip on yourself, James," the rational side of him told him, mentally slapping him. "She'll be here, don't worry. Besides, she said that she'd be here at ten, don't you think it's a little too early for you to be waiting?"

James sighed and decided to sit on the couch, glancing at the clack. Ten minutes more. The room was deathly quiet, and he was the only one in the entire house, since his parents had gone to the Ministry to have an audience with the Minister, and Sirius and Chelsea were due to arrive at eleven.

To occupy himself, he began looking out the window, trying to count the snowflakes that were falling. When it was ten o'clock, however, there was a strangled noise coming from the fireplace, and James jumped to attention. Within seconds, Lily Evans was on the floor, her face a bit blackened with soot, as was her bag.

James helped her up and they gave each other a grin. "Right on time, I see, Lily," he told her teasingly.

"Oh shut up," Lily grumbled, still feeling dizzy after traveling. She straightened herself up, wiped the soot from her face and said, "Thank you so much, for inviting me though. I mean, I love my parents and all, but really, it gets quite tiring to have your mum and dad ask you repeatedly if you've found some suitable bloke to marry already". They left the sitting room, and began walking.

"And have you?" James asked, despite himself.

"Maybe," Lily said mysteriously and laughed when she saw James's disbelieving and almost jealous look. She followed him as he gave her a tour of the house, and was amazed. It was huge. The rooms and the hallways were decorated with expensively simple yet elegant tastes that set off the homey feeling perfectly.

"This is your house," Lily spoke, still not believing how she could have forgotten that her laid-back, down to earth friend was actually heir to one of the biggest fortunes in wizarding Britain. "James, I knew you were well-to-do, but I never realized just how much".

James laughed at Lily's awestruck expression and said, "Hey, what can I do? I was born to it. Come on, I'll show you to your room". They climbed the stairs to the second floor, and as they did, Lily caught sight of some moving pictures hung on the wall. Once reaching the second floor, which was still richly decorated, they walked down the hall, and Lily observed the hanging pictures more.

"The entire Potter line is on these walls," James informed her, looking somewhere between pleased and embarrassed. "Grandma and Grandma hung everything here in the hallway, so everyone could see. It wasn't a matter of boasting, they just thought that the portraits could use something else to look at and someone to talk to instead of being cooped up in the drawing room". Lily merely laughed as she noticed the people in the portraits staring at them.

"James m'boy, is that your girlfriend right there?" an old, wizened man wearing blue robes asked from the portrait as they passed.

As James turned red, a woman in the portrait answered, "No, that's not his girlfriend, that's Lily Evans, the girl he's been obsessed with since his third year!" Hearing this, Lily blushed and gave him a pointed look. Yet he still said nothing.

They were almost at the end of the hallway when James stopped in front of a mahogany door. He opened it and motioned for Lily to enter with great flourish. "Your room, mademoiselle," he told her, stepping inside. Lily did the same.

"Wow," she breathed when she saw the room. It was painted in a lovely cerulean hue, with a four-poster bed and an antique armoire. It was decorated exactly as Lily preferred it, simple yet elegant.

"Do you want to rest first or something, or do you want to see the rest of the house? I want to show you the grounds," James asked her from the doorway. Lily looked up from her trunk, which she had just opened.

"Well, let me just take a quick shower and I'll join you downstairs, okay?" Lily told him. James simply nodded and he left her room.

Around fifteen minutes later, Lily went downstairs, wearing fresh clothes. "Hey, what time are Sirius and Chelsea arriving?" Lily asked him as they walked back to the living room. James checked his watch.

"Probably, about……now". And sure enough, there was a strangled noise coming from the fireplace, and seconds later, Sirius Black and Chelsea Leonards arrived, coughing slightly.

As soon as the girls saw each other, they both squealed and gave each other a big hug. "Chelse, I missed you so much!" Lily exclaimed.

"Me too!" was all she said. They quit hugging, and Lily turned to Sirius, who was standing beside James, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Hey Sirius," Lily said quietly, smiling softly as she looked up to her friend. "Merry Christmas". Suddenly, and to everyone's amazement, Sirius suddenly rushed to Lily and gave her a big hug.

"I'm so sorry Lils, I was just upset I guess," Sirius whispered to her. Lily simply smiled and said, "No problem Sirius. You were right, anyway. Besides, if it weren't for you, James and I would never have become friends. So we're cool, right?" Sirius nodded and the two smiled at each other.

They quit hugging and Lily turned to James, who had a strange expression his face. "James? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," James said, snapping out of his reveries. Lily looked outside and a slow grin suddenly came to her face.

"Hey guys," Lily suggested. "Why don't we have a snowball fight outside?"

"Oh no, no way," Sirius said, shuddering. "Don't get me wrong, we love snowball fights but we just don't love-----"

"Losing to us girls?" Chelsea finished, her blue eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Yes! I still remember distinctly that we lost 1-10 from you girls when we were at Hogwarts!" James said, mocking annoyance.

"Actually," Sirius said thoughtfully, "If my memory serves me correctly, we lost 0-10 last year".

"Hey, Padfoot, which side are you on anyway?" James asked him pointedly.

"Come on you guys, it'll be fun!" Lily said, giving the boys her best pleading look.

"OH…..fine!" James suddenly relented, unable to resist the look on Lily's face. Chelsea and Lily grinned to each other, while Sirius looked at James incredulously.

"Awesome!" Lily said happily. "Don't worry guys; we'll try to go easy on you this year….after all, the main reason why I made it so difficult of you when we were at Hogwarts was because I hated James. But now, we'll try to go easier on you. After all, I don't want to see you bawling your eyes out because you lost to us girls!"

"Just you wait, Lily," James said, his competitive nature kicking in, "We'll see who'll be bawling their eyes out later. You girls are no match for us, after all!"

The girls simply rolled their eyes at the two men as they headed out of James's house to begin their snowball fight.

..------..

"You girls are evil," Sirius remarked as they finished their tenth round. "Supremely evil, I must say".

"Why thank you," Chelsea said, curtsying as the three others laughed.

"Hey! You promised you'd give us a chance this year!" James protested, brushing off snow from his coat.

"We did give you a chance," was Lily's reply.

"Losing 0 to 10 is not considered giving us a chance, Lily!" James exclaimed. "You promised you'd go easy on us this year!"

"When we said that we'd try to go easy on you this year, you should have put more emphasis on _'try'_. But really, we did go easy on you this year. I guess we're just better. Or it could be," Lily's emerald eyes sparkled as she said this, "that your just not good enough! Really, for Quidditch players, James, Sirius, you sure don't have a good aim!"

Possessed by a mischievous idea, James went backwards to their fort and slyly and secretly made a snowball. "Now good enough for you, eh? We'll see about that!" And with that, he threw the snowball at Lily! She shrieked in delight as the two started their own snowball fight, Sirius and Chelsea looking on, half in amusement, half in exasperation.

"If only they'd hurry it up and admit how they feel for each other already!" Sirius muttered to Chelsea, and she nodded in agreement

Finally, after Lily and James finished, with James still losing brilliantly to Lily, they headed back up inside.

..------..

"Mum, dad, this is Chelsea Leonards, Sirius's girlfriend. And this, is Lily Evans," James said. It was evening, and James was introducing the two girls to his parents.

Richard and Margaret Potter glanced at the two girls, and broad grins crossed their faces. "So this is _the_ Lily Evans! I was wondering when I'd finally get to meet you!" Richard Potter said, smiling warmly at her. "And Chelsea! Any girl who can keep Sirius for more than a year is sure to be something".

Lily and Chelsea smiled in appreciation at James's father's comments. "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, why don't we check on dinner? Come on, Chelse," Sirius hurriedly said, and with a wicked grin, he grabbed Chelsea, leaving Lily and James alone with James's parents.

"It's a pleasure to meet you my dear," Mrs. Potter said warmly. "From what I've noticed, James's descriptions about you seem to do you justice".

"Oh really?" Lily turned to James and gave him a wicked grin. "And how would James describe me, Mr. and Mrs. Potter?"

"Hmm, let me see," Margaret said, oblivious to her son's steadily reddening face. "Well, he always talked about you, every summer".

"We couldn't get him to shut up, actually," Richard added.

"Yes. He always said that you were, oh what was it that he used? Oh yes, "An angel descended from the heavens". He told us that you were sweet, beautiful, smart, kind, and extremely witty," Mrs. Potter said, not seeming to mind her embarrassed son.

Richard added, "You forgot, dear. James always used to say that he 'could get lost in her eyes', and that your beauty was 'as lovely as the rising sun' too".

"Really now?" Lily said, smiling, trying to keep herself from laughing as she stared at James, who was now quite embarrassed indeed. "Odd, those were the same pick-up lines he used on me when we were at school. Very original, James, very original indeed".

James glared at her, and his parents laughed. Thankfully, James was saved from any more embarrassing situations when Chelsea called for dinner. They all walked to the lavish dining room, and sat down to a wonderful dinner.

It was finally ten in the evening. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were already asleep, and Sirius and Chelsea were out. James knocked on Lily's door and found her sitting on the desk, writing steadily into a piece of parchment.

"Hey." James said softly. "What are you doing?" Lily looked up as she sealed the parchment, and was smiled when she saw him.

"Writing a letter to my parents. I'll mail it tomorrow. What's up?" Lily asked him, standing up and walking over to her trunk and opening it. Without waiting for an answer, she took out a nicely-wrapped box from her trunk and handed it to James. "My belated Christmas present for you, I hope you like it".

James grinned as he took the box. "Thanks Lils!" he said happily. "Oh yeah, and I have something for you too". He took his hand from behind him, and handed Lily a small, neatly wrapped box. "Merry Christmas".

Smiling excitedly, Lily took the box with an exclamation of thanks, and carefully undid the peach ribbon. She unwrapped it slowly until she extracted a small dark blue velvet-covered box. Curious, she opened the box and, seeing what was inside, gasped.

James had given her a necklace, a beautiful silver necklace. It was a simple silver chain, from which sparkled an emerald shaped like a lily, the edges encrusted with small diamonds. It was so captivating, and as Lily put it on, she smiled softly.

"James, I—thank you," Lily said. "This is, really beautiful, I love it. I was going to wear pearls to the Ministry New year's party, but now, I'll wear this one. It's perfect".

"I'm glad you liked it," James said, looking happy. "Well, you probably need your sleep. Goodnight," and with that, he left her room, closing the door gently behind him.

Lily sighed dreamily as she sat back down and fingered the necklace. Minutes later she went to bed, her dreams mainly concerning a certain messy-haired, bespectacled man.

And when she woke up the next morning, there was a huge smile on her face.

..------..

It was December 30, only a day before the Ministry New Year's party. Lily was happy; her stay at the Potter house had been wonderful, and being closer to James, seeing him in his own environment, made her smile and her heart went out to him even more, though she still staunchly denied that she was in love, or that she was feeling anything for James that was other than friendship.

It was twelve in the evening. Lily couldn't sleep; she had a lot on her mind, and she wasn't feeling exhausted at all. Feeling thirsty, she got up from bed, put on her robe, and, taking her wand with her, left her room.

She walked to the kitchen silently, hoping not to wake any portraits and using as little light as possible. Once she reached there, she turned on the lights and was surprised to see James there, drinking from a cup.

"Hey," James said, looking quite surprised. "It's late, what are you still doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep, what's your excuse?" Lily shrugged. She walked to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of water.

"Same thing," James said. "Hey, you want to talk? We could just sit by the fire until we feel tired".

"Sure," Lily shrugged again and their both stepped to the living room. James took out his wand and within seconds, there was a warm fire blazing in the fireplace. They both sat on the couch, and James put his arm around Lily, and she leaned closer.

And so they began to talk. Whatever crossed their minds came out of their mouths, but they carefully avoided talking about their relationship, whatever it was. Within minutes, Lily began to yawn. Just as she contemplated going to sleep, her eyes suddenly fluttered closed and she dozed off.

James turned to Lily to say something, and found that she was already asleep, and that she had unconsciously leaned her head on his shoulder. He observed Lily, noticing her soft breathing and how angelic and vulnerable she looked when she was asleep. He smiled softly to himself, thinking that this had been a great holiday, that being his last thought before he unexpectedly closed his eyes as sleep claimed him as well.

--0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0—

**I hate this chapter. I think I butchered it.**

**I'm sorry, my inspiration has left me for a second, so I'm hoping that you don't find this chapter too bad…..but if you want to hunt me down and chase me with a pitchfork for writing a bad chapter, it's your choice. Just let me know.**

**Anyway, the next chapter's going to be better. It's going to be quite dramatic, and needless to say, an unexpected way to start their new year….but until then……….**


	12. Confessions on a Dancefloor

**I Never Gave Up**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except a few characters you don't recognize. The rest belongs to the great genius, J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Twelve

**Confessions on a Dance floor**

Lily Elizabeth Evans had not counted on waking up the next morning beside James Potter on the couch, the dying embers the only remains of the fire last night, but that was exactly what happened. As she stirred, she felt a pain in her neck, and she cringed. She returned herself to a proper sitting position, and as she did so, James stirred beside her and slowly, his eyes opened.

"Good morning Lily," James said groggily as he became fully awake, lightly working out the painful kinks in his neck.

"Morning, James," Lily said, lightly laughing. "We stayed out all night. Unbelievable," the two then laughed.

"I trust you had a good night?"

"Well, if by a good night you mean sleeping next to you in the living room, and waking up at ten in the morning, knowing that everyone else in the house has probably seen us, well then yes," Lily smiled and she placed a hand over her mouth as she stifled a yawn.

James laughed lightly, "Well if it's any consolation, I slept better than I had in weeks. The waking up part is the only thing that hurts," he smiled ruefully. "Well, we'd better get back to our rooms. I'll see you in the kitchen, okay?" Lily smiled and they both went upstairs and went inside their respective bedrooms.

Minutes later, they saw each other at the foot of the stairs, so they decided to make their way to the kitchen together. When they entered, they were surprised to find Sirius there, sitting on the chair near the Spanish-tiled countertop, nursing a cup of coffee.

"Hey Sirius," Lily and James chorused as they walked to the bread basket to get something to eat. Lily took a bagel, and as she smeared some cream cheese on it, turned to find Sirius grinning a broad, wicked grin that Lily knew only too well.

"Alright, Sirius, admit it," she said in her firmest voice as she took a bite of her bagel. "I know that grin; it used to mean that you pulled a prank or that you have some blackmail material. Cough it up". James turned and groaned when he saw Sirius's smile.

"You know me to well, Lils," Sirius said, still grinning as he fished for something in his pocket. "But I'd like to know one thing. How was your night, Lily? You and James looked pretty cozy on the couch, I must say," and with that, he showed something to the couple, who made disbelieving gasps and turned to look at Sirius with incredulous looks on their faces.

"You—you took a picture. Of us. While we were sleeping," Lily said, her voice disbelieving. "Give it here, Sirius".

"Nah," Sirius said, looking as though he was enjoying himself. He turned the picture so he could see for himself, and sure enough, it was a moving print of Lily and James as they slept soundly together on the couch. "You look so sweet together here, hmm, I wonder how much I could get if I sold this photo to the Daily Prophet?" he said teasingly as he waved the photo tantalizingly in front of Lily.

Lily's eyes widened. "Don't you dare, Sirius!" She made a grab for the photo but he was too fast; he ran out of the kitchen, and Lily chased him, James laughing. Sirius ran outside and Lily followed, but then, just as she was near enough to be able to grab the photograph, Sirius tripped, and Lily, losing her balance, fell down on the snow-covered ground as well.

"You guys okay?" James said, laughter dancing across his eyes as he helped Lily up.

"Yeah," Lily said. "And I'll be taking that, if you please," and with one fluid motion, she swiped the photo out of Sirius's grasp and pocketed it.

"Fine, you keep it. I expect that you'll frame it and put it up on the wall and decorate it with little hearts," Sirius said teasingly. Lily glared mockingly at him as the group entered the house once more, to be met with Chelsea, who was looking at them with a questioning gaze on her face.

"What on earth happened to you three?"

..------..

There were only a few more hours till the Ministry New year's party, and the entire household was in a buzz. The house-elves were busy helping their Mr. and Mrs. Potter to get ready for another party they were to attend, and the four friends were excitedly anticipating the event.

"Can you imagine?" Chelsea said. "In a few more hours, we're going to have a New Year. Time flies fast, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Lily said, looking at her friend from her very comfortable position on the couch, which happened to be with James's hand around her shoulder. "So much has happened this year though, but I'm looking forward to another year, personally," she looked significantly at James, and he smiled.

"I can't wait," Sirius said from his place by the fire. "The Ministry plans great New Year's parties, I remember last year, there were a lot of people having a great time, and many were drinking from a severely spiked punch bowl. Parents had to practically drag their children away from trying it".

Lily laughed and retorted, "Hmm, well, if I recall correctly, you were the one who spiked the punch, so I'm guessing that you had a great time".

"You spiked another punch bowl?" James asked Sirius, groaning. "Man, you used to do that in Hogwarts, McGonagall usually got you in detention during party nights. Too bad I missed that". The four laughed as one, until a clanking of the clock chime signified the arrival of five o'clock.

Chelsea and Lily stood up. "Well, we'd better get ready for the ball. We'll meet you at the stairs, okay?"

"What, you need two hours?" Sirius asked them, surprised. Chelsea merely gave him a peck on the cheek, and Lily merely waved as the two women left, leaving the best friends in the sitting room. "What on earth do girls do with themselves that they need two hours for it?" he asked James.

His best friend merely grinned. "I don't know, but who the hell cares? At least we love the result". Sirius merely rolled his eyes as the two left the room as well.

..------..

It was already a quarter to seven, and James and Sirius were waiting impatiently by the stairs, wearing very dashing and expensive-looking black dress robes. "Where are they, I want to go already!" Sirius grumbled impatiently as he paced the floor. James laughed lightly as he leaned casually on the banister, looking at his friend.

Suddenly, there was a light noise heard, and the two men looked up to see Chelsea arrive, wearing beautiful satin dress robes in a lovely shade of burgundy, that sparkled along with the diamonds she was wearing. Her hair was let down in loose curls, and she looked absolutely wonderful.

"You look great, Chelse," James said as she arrived at the bottom step, seeing that Sirius was still too dumbfounded for words. His best friend snapped out of it, however.

"Hey, you've got your own girl, go compliment her," Sirius told him. James laughed as Sirius kissed Chelsea lightly.

"Hey, where's Lily?" James asked her, now looking quite anxious.

"She's coming down in a second, she just had to fix her hair, I heard her grumbling about it not cooperating today as I went downstairs," Chelsea briefly explained. The group engaged in quiet chitchat for awhile.

Suddenly, Sirius, who was facing the staircase, stood open-mouthed. "She looks beautiful," was all he could say. Chelsea and James hurriedly turned around, and saw Lily descending down the stairs.

She was wearing royal blue robes with a lighter-shade of gossamer sleeves that spread out at the end. Her make-up was just right, and her hair was pinned up in a very becoming fashion. On her neck glistened the necklace that James had given her, and it set off her whole look beautifully.

Once she reached the bottom step, James turned to Sirius and said, "Hey, you've got your own girl, compliment her". The two men laughed and James turned to Lily, who was standing self-consciously in front of him, waiting for him to say something.

"So, how do I look?" she asked him.

"Well, let's put it this way. Not even the most beautiful star tonight will be able to compare to you," James told her, looking very serious. Lily laughed and rolled her eyes at his lame pick-up line.

Lily turned to the others. "Shall we go? We have five minutes till it starts". The group nodded, but before they could exit the foyer, a house elf came running up to them, bearing a camera that seemed to big for his size.

"Master Richard and Missis Margaret want Finney to take picture of you four," the house elf said breathlessly. The four looked at each other, but James nodded. Finney snapped his fingers, and a stool appeared. He climbed on to it, and positioned the camera.

"Somehow I feel like we are going to prom and the parents want a memorable picture of us," Lily, who was beside James, muttered to Chelsea, who was on her right.

"Prom? What's that?" James asked her interestedly.

"A traditional high-school party. It's a muggle thing," Lily briefly explained to him. He simply nodded, still not really understanding. The elf motioned for silence, and the four put on their best smiles.

There was a loud flash and after some smoke cleared up, the elf bowed to the four and left to develop the picture. James and the rest laughed as they reached the doorway and took a tattered old phonebook. They all touched it, and within seconds, and a flash of bright blue light later, they were gone.

..------..

"Wow," Chelsea whispered as they made their grand entrance in the grand ballroom. They were in the home of Lady Lisette Silverson, a wealthy figure in the wizarding world, and she had graciously volunteered to make her home the venue for the party.

All eyes were on them, and the girls felt a little self-conscious when they noticed. James and Sirius didn't' seem to mind. Once they had reached the bottom step, the four were immediately greeted with crowds of people, and they found themselves caught up in conversation for the next few minutes. The strains of the orchestra playing were lovely, and an air of anticipation was in the air as everyone awaited the coming of the New Year.

Suddenly, dinner was announced and they all headed to the very lavish dining hall to eat. It was a lovely occasion; there was a light murmur of polite conversation as they ate, and Sirius had succeeded in spiking the punch bowl again, much to the amusement of James and the dismay of the senior members of the Ministry.

Once dinner was over, there was only at least four more hours till New Year. During that time, they occupied themselves with dancing, performances, and talking. It seemed like everyone was having a great time.

Finally, it was already 11:30. Lily had been asked by many men to dance, and James did not like it at all. He sat down, observing Lily waltz with some stranger, who was looking at Lily smilingly.

James, for all his mischievousness and arrogance, was not a violent man. He wanted to throttle that stranger.

"Look at that guy, Sirius, he's making a move on Lily, I don't like it," James growled to his best friend, his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the couple. "And by Lily's expression, I think that she isn't enjoying herself as well".

Sirius groaned and said, "Yeah Prongs, and that explains perfectly why she's smiling widely? For goodness' sake, mate, calm down. If you don't like her dancing with other guys, then go cut in!"

"You know, you're right, why didn't I think of that before?" James said. He gave Sirius a grin and walked purposely towards the dancing couple. Once there, he tapped the shoulder of the guy and he respectfully bowed out.

"Hey," James said, grinning at the woman he loved. "May I have this dance?" Lily smiled and nodded, and James took her hand as the orchestra began to strike up a new, slow, tune. They fit together perfectly; they danced together in perfect rhythm, and they looked-and felt-so right for each other. Their eyes were closed as they slow danced, basking themselves in this bliss. They suddenly came crashing painfully down to earth when the orchestra gradually stopped playing and the host took center stage.

"Good evening, everyone! Now, only three minutes more till we welcome the New Year and the question on my mind is: Who will be your first kiss of the year? Couples, especially those on the dance floor, even if you are just friends, are strongly encouraged to share their first kiss together-on the lips- as soon as New Year hits, because they say that friendships will be intensified, and romance will blossom and strengthen even more. Two minutes more, everyone!" the host, a male wizard in very stylish grey robes, said enthusiastically.

Lily and James stared at each other after hearing this. Lily's heart was thumping wildly in her chest, and so was James, and they waited in anticipation for someone to speak. Finally, James spoke, saying tentatively, "Lily, I mean, we are here and all, so uh, not that it'll ruin our friendship or anything, but can---can I---?"

Despite herself, she said, "Just a light peck on the lips, I don't feel too comfortable about anything deep with anyone who isn't my boyfriend".

"I'll take what I can get," James grinned roguishly up at her, and she resisted the urge to laugh. Overhead, the host was giving the countdown. "Ten….nine….eight….seven….six…five…four….three….two…..ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" As he said that, everyone clapped and fireworks began erupting outside. Across the house, various couples and well, more adventurous people, began to receive their New Year's Kiss.

James, deciding that it was now or never, suddenly leaned in and pressed his lips to Lily's in a very light peck on the lips that, when he pulled away and they both smiled, secretly left them longing for more.

He gathered Lily into a hug, and as the orchestra began to strike up again, James took her hand and they began to dance again, now closer to each other than before.

"I love you," James suddenly whispered. Shocked, Lily pulled away from him and gave him a startled, surprised, and suspicious stare.

"James I—look let's talk upstairs, people are staring. The outside is too noisy anyway." Lily said quietly as she took James's hand and led him upstairs, and into one of the guest bedrooms, where they were conveniently alone.

"What did you just say to me?" Lily asked him, refusing to meet his eyes.

"I love you," James said, as if it were the most obvious and simple thing in the entire world. "I have ever since we were at Hogwarts and-----".

Tensing up, Lily interrupted, "James, I----no, you don't love me, you only had a crush on me back then and----".

"Maybe so, but I know how I feel about you. If I wasn't sure before, I'm sure now," James replied, frowning. This wasn't going the way that he imagined. He had not expected Lily to rush into his arms and tell him that she loved him too, but he had not expected her to be this disbelieving and doubtful as well. A simple thank-you would have sufficed, damn it.

"No James, this is impossible. We're friends, for goodness' sake, all you feel for me is friendship! You have a distorted view of it, but all you feel for me is friendship, nothing more!" Lily said, her voice cracking, as she began to look even more nervous.

"I thought so too, at first!" James replied, not liking the way that this was going. "Look, yes, I admit, when we were at Hogwarts, I only had a crush on you, I thought it would eventually go away. But then I saw you, again, and when we became friends, when I saw this whole other side of you, my feelings only intensified even more. I chalked it up to friendship at first, but there was no point denying it. It was love; I never gave up on you".

"You—you can't be in love with me, that's ridiculous! I-I don't love you," Lily whispered, her heart breaking just to see James's pained expression as she said those words. It was hard enough just saying those words at all.

He laughed mirthlessly. "I never expected you to, Lily. But I never expected you to be this negative about it. But tell me something," a spark suddenly came into his eyes, his voice hardening. "You keep repeating over and over that I don't love you. Tell me, who are you trying to convince, me, or _yourself_?" Lily knew the answer right away, but she opted to say nothing.

"Lily, listen to me. I tried to ignore these feelings for awhile, but now, I can't. You're the only woman I've ever loved like this, Lily. The only one. I'm in love with you, but if you think that I'm being selfish, or that I'm making everything difficult, then-----".

"James, please, stop it. I—I can't handle this right now, okay? I have to go," and with that, Lily turned and ran out as fast as her feet would permit and, not caring or remembering about her things in the Potter mansion, she Apparated directly to her own apartment.

"Damn it!" James cursed loudly, kicking the antique armoire in frustration. "I can't believe that just happened, she doesn't love me, she doesn't even believe that I do, what a wonderful way to start the year," he told himself sarcastically as he sat down, contemplating on what to do.

Once Lily arrived at her apartment, she kicked off her shoes and ran towards her bedroom. Once there, she flung herself on the bed, and then allowed the tears to flow. Outside, the noisy clamor of the fireworks only worsened her mood.

_"Good going, Evans,"_ her sub-conscious told her sarcastically, _"You're doing it again. Running away whenever you're faced with something you don't know how to handle. You seem to very good at it, don't you think? You ruined a chance of a lifetime, you broke his heart, you should be ashamed of yourself!"_

"I couldn't help it," Lily answered back. "He just suddenly said it, out of the blue, how the hell am I supposed to take it? I don't want to be hurt; he doesn't really love me anyway".

_"James was right, it's not him you're convincing, it's you,"_ her sub-conscious said. _"And that's just sad and pathetic"._ And right then and there, Lily realized something. James was absolutely right.

Everything he had said earlier was all sincere and true. He really did love her, and for some reason, she did not want to accept it. And for the first time in a very long time, Lily Elizabeth Evans felt scared and ashamed.

And not because she had just about ruined her wonderful friendship with James Potter by the way she acted.

It also wasn't because she hurt him so badly that she couldn't bear to look at him without having her own heart break again.

No. Lily Evans was scared and ashamed because, whatever else she might have appeared to be, whatever she might have thought, denied, and said, there was no avoiding the fact that she was falling in love with him as well.

She just didn't have the guts to tell him.

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**Well? How was that for drama and confession? It was quite sad, but this was one of my favorite chapters to write. Hope it is for you too, just let me know!**

**I'm almost done with this story. The next chapter is going to be quite dramatic with a bit of a cliffhanger, I guess. The only clue I'm giving is that something will ruin a moment. But until then……….. **


	13. Ruined Moments

**I Never Gave Up**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except a few characters you don't recognize. The rest belongs to the great genius, J.K. Rowling.

**Note:** THANK YOU so much to my readers and reviewers, fifteen reviews is the most I've gotten for any chapter for any story I've ever written, _ever_. It means a lot to me that you got me past the 100 review mark, thank you once again.

Chapter Thirteen

**Ruined Moments**

There were only two other times in her life wherein Lily Evans had felt supremely miserable.

The first one was when her favorite bunny rabbit had died when she was six years old. She just stayed in her room for two days, refusing to come out and crying. She also didn't want to bury the rabbit, but agreed once its corpse began giving off an ungodly stench in her room.

The second time was when she and James had fought because of that stupid trial, and then she and Sirius had fought too.

But the way she had felt during those times was nothing compared to how she was feeling _now_.

It had been three days since James's confession, and three days since she had ran out on him, and she felt terrible. Her head hurt, she felt sore all over, but most of all, her heart ached. She was due to return to work in today, but she could not bring herself to get out of bed. She didn't think she could bear to see James this soon.

She went to look at her beside table, and found a nicely framed photo of her and James dancing and laughing happily amidst the cold wind and falling leaves of autumn (think the picture on Harry's beside table in Prisoner of Azkaban), and she groaned, feeling more worse about herself.

The trouble with her was that she knew she was falling for James…..but was she really in love? Ever since she was little, she had this tendency to worry too much and turn even the most positive of things into the most negative ones.

"I hate myself," she kept on mumbling to herself, the words replaying in her head like a mantra. Minutes later of lying around in bed, she realized that she was being absolutely ridiculous. She couldn't just mope around; she needed to talk to someone, fast, before the rest of her sanity left her.

She went out of bed and took a shower. As she changed her outfit, she realized that it was already eleven in the morning. Taking her bag with her, she Apparated to the Ministry of Magic, more specifically, in front of Kelsey's office.

She knocked thrice before she heard her best friend say, "Come in". Lily opened the door, and, just standing in the doorway, cleared her throat to make her presence known.

"Lily?" Kelsey said happily. But when she noticed the sad and confused expression on Lily's face, she said in a worried tone, "Lils, are you okay? What-what happened to you, is anything wrong?"

"Kelse," Lily said, her voice strangled with unshed tears and sounding sad and excited all at the same time, "I……I think I'm in love with James Potter".

..------..

She and Kelsey went to a small restaurant on their lunch break so they could talk. After ordering, they faced each other, but before any of them could speak, a figure loomed over them and the two women looked up.

"Excuse me, but you never really gave my best friend's heart back after you oh so kindly ripped it out," Sirius Black said sardonically, standing in front of the two women with his arms folded. He took a seat beside her but Lily refused to meet his eyes.

"Sirius, I'm sorry, but if you came here to sermon me, or to yell at me, or to sever ties with me for being such a bitch to James, save it. Not right now, I'm not in the mood," Lily said tiredly. Sirius merely brushed her statement aside.

"Oh don't be so over-dramatic Lily, we just want to talk to you. Goodness knows you need it, you admitted it yourself," Kelsey said, rolling her eyes.

"How did you know where to find us, anyway?" Lily asked him.

"I told him," Kelsey said pointedly. Before any of them could talk anymore, their food arrived. Sirius only settled to order a glass of water; he claimed that he had just eaten a big lunch.

Once they had gotten started on dessert, Sirius leaned back in his chair and said, "So, first of all, what happened during the party, anyway? All I saw was that you were dancing, and the next, you left".

"You mean James didn't tell you?" Lily asked him, puzzled.

"Nah, James wouldn't talk to me, or to anyone else for that matter. Besides, I left the day after, so we never really got a chance to talk properly," Sirius explained. "So, what happened?"

Lily gave a sigh and began her tale. "Well, James cut in from my dance with Parker and we started to dance. It was great, everything was perfect. Then, when it was almost midnight, he asked if he could be my first kiss of the year—not that it would damage our friendship or anything, of course. I told him okay, but nothing deep, so when 12:00 struck he kissed me".

There she was interrupted when Kelsey gave a short, girlish squeal. "That is so sweet, Lily!" she exclaimed. Sirius gave her a pointed, meaningful look, and she hurriedly added, "But we didn't really come to talk about that, so go on".

"Well," Lily said, "Then after what happened, he hugged me and we started dancing again. Then suddenly, out of the blue, he told me that he loved me! I took his hand and led him upstairs so we could talk privately. It was terrible".

"How so?" Kelsey asked her.

"He kept telling me that he loved me, and I kept saying that all he felt for me was friendship, I wouldn't believe it. He wouldn't hear any of it, he just kept wanting to make me feel better and telling me that he was being sincere," at this, she wiped a tear from her eye at the recollection.

"And what did you do?" Sirius said, his voice a bit hardened now.

"What else could I do? I ran for it. I went back to my apartment and cried. I mean, he just sprung it on me, I could hardly believe it. I thought he was just joking, and then……" Lily gulped and continued, "I realized that he was absolutely sincere. And that…..I was just too much of a coward to admit that…….." she trailed off.

"Admit what?" Sirius demanded, getting impatient with her.

"That, either way, I was falling in love with him too. But, Sirius, Kelsey, you don't understand, it's so hard for me to admit something like that! I feel like I'm in love with him, and I want to let him in, but then I feel myself doubt my own emotions, and I find myself thinking that he doesn't really love me too, and then I feel so confused and scared all over again that I begin to doubt that I love him," Lily said, her voice full of anguish.

To her surprise, a slow smile began to spread across Sirius's face. "I get it," he suddenly said, looking triumphant, "You're afraid of getting hurt!"

"Of course I am, who isn't?"

Kelsey took over, saying to her best friend, gently, "Lily, it isn't wrong to be afraid. We're human; it's natural. But if you do really love him, you will find that you can overcome that fear, and that you are prepared to risk everything for him".

"Lily, I've known James since we were eight years old, and when he cares about someone, he does everything he can to protect them and make them feel loved. He'd never hurt you, I'd give my assurance on that," Sirius added.

Lily sighed, "I know, and deep in my heart, I am ready to risk everything for him, and I know that he wouldn't hurt me, but, what about me? What if I end up hurting him, what if I end up breaking his heart, I don't think I can handle that".

Kelsey sighed almost exasperatedly. "Lily, for goodness' sake, just tell me how you feel about James right now".

"Well, um, okay, I uh…..I just feel so….free, I guess. I don't need to be so uptight and perfect when I'm around him. I feel like I'm floating, and my heart usually beats faster and there are butterflies in my stomach. I'm terrified of being hurt, but I'm more terrified of hurting him and………….."

Suddenly, and to her two friends' immense surprise, Lily smiled for the first time since they got together. "You know what?" she said, a new strength in her voice. "If I wasn't sure before, I am now. You guys are totally right, I am in love with him. And I know exactly what I'm supposed to do".

"Which is?" Sirius asked, grinning triumphantly, glad to have the old Lily back once again.

"I have to tell him how I feel. I shouldn't be a coward about it, I just have to make things right," she said, a new trace of strength and happiness in her voice now that her feelings had been cleared up, that her friends had talked some sense into her. "Thanks a lot, guys, you helped a lot".

"That's the spirit, Lily!" Kelsey cheered on, beaming.

"Yeah, go talk to him, now!" Sirius added.

"I can't right now, I have to visit my parents. But I'll definitely go around five this afternoon!" Lily said in the same enthusiastic voice. Suddenly, she slumped back into her seat, looking disheartened once more.

"Lils?" Kelsey asked. "You okay?"

"But how am I going to say it to him?" Lily cried, looking troubled once more. "I mean, what should I tell him, should I say, 'Hi James, Happy New year, I just stopped by to tell you that I've been stupid, I'm in love with you and I hope we can work things out!' Somehow, it doesn't seem right".

"You know," Sirius said, looking thoughtful. "That isn't so bad, come to think of it".

Kelsey rolled her eyes and answered, "Lily, just, tell him how you feel. Honesty is the key here, just be sincere. Trust me, it may seem hard, but the moment you see him, everything you want to say will just tumble out of your mouth, everything will be fine".

Lily smiled, understanding her best friends' advice. "Your right, thanks you guys. Now, I really have to go, wish me luck!" she suddenly said hurriedly as she abruptly stood up, took her purse and walked out.

Sirius and Kelsey looked at each other, startled by what just happened. "Did she just walk out on us?" Kelsey asked him, wondering what on earth was going on in Lily's mind today. "Okay, I know she's in love and everything, but I've never seen her act this odd".

Sirius grinned. "Leave it, Kelse. Once she and James get together, she'll go back to normal, trust me". Suddenly, the waiter appeared in front of them, giving them the bill for their meal.

"Great. And she leaves _us_ to settle the bill," Sirius groaned but the next instant later went and high-fived Kelsey, and they both congratulated themselves on a job well done.

..------..

It was about five o'clock already, and Lily had reached the entrance of the Ministry of Magic. After going through the standard security measure, she walked purposely towards the Criminal Law department.

"Lily, hi!" Dianne greeted her. "I didn't see you today; did you have an extended vacation?"

"Yeah, something like that," Lily said vaguely. She snapped to attention and said, "Hey, do you know if James is still in?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter is in his office right now, but he doesn't really want to be disturbed, I guess he's busy. He looked really troubled today, and he hasn't opened the door to leave once," Dianne explained to her.

A pang of guilt coursed through her but she swallowed it and said, "Oh, but I really have to talk to him though, this is really important. I'll see if he can open the door for me". She gave Dianne a half-smile as she walked over to James's office.

Taking two deep breaths to compose herself, she knocked thrice on the door. Within seconds she could hear his tired voice say, "Who is it, I'm sorry, I don't really want to be disturbed today".

"It's me, James," Lily said, making her voice louder and firmer.

"Me who?" was the reply that came from the other end of the door.

Rolling her eyes a bit, she sighed and said, "I think you know perfectly well who I am, James". A few seconds later, she could hear a heavy sigh from the other end, then a slight click, and the door magically opened. Taking one other deep breath, she went inside.

Nothing in the room was amiss, Lily was relieved to note. At least he hadn't thrown a fit at what happened. But when she stared at James, she noted a sort of distant sadness in his eyes that made her hurt more than if he had yelled at her.

A silence overcame them as they just stared at each other intently for a few moments. Suddenly, James shook his head and broke it. "Um," he said, going to one side of the room and taking a bag and handing it to Lily. "Here are your things that you uh, left at my house".

"Thanks," she said, letting the bag drop to the floor for awhile. She cleared her throat and was about to speak, but James beat her too it and she began to feel tense.

"So," James began conversationally. "How are you? I mean, how does it feel to ruin a friendship and break a heart in just one night?" The words came out of his mouth before he could stop himself, because, though he knew that it wasn't right, he was mad at her.

Lily stood there, shell-shocked. She knew he was hurt, but she never realized how much. "James, I—I'm sorry, but your not the only one who's being faced with something difficult, so please don't take that tone with me".

Immediately, he softened. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair and said, "Okay, Lily, I'm sorry. But you wanted to talk, so, go on".

Knowing that it was now or never, Lily took a deep breath and said, "Listen, James, first of all, I want to say I'm sorry. For everything. For being a complete monster to you at the party, for leaving you like that, for not caring about your feelings and----"

"Lily----"

Lily shook her head and said, "James, please, let me talk. When you told me that you loved me, I didn't know how to react, and frankly, I was scared as hell. I mean, you just suddenly said it without any preliminaries, you really surprised me. But when I got home, when I got to thinking, and when I got to talking with my friends, I realized that the only reason why I felt so scared and ashamed too was because," she took a deep breath and paused and looked at James, who was waiting for her to continue. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, the door suddenly opened and Sirius Black suddenly burst in, looking grim.

Lily sent him a glare that said, "You ruined the moment, Sirius". He simply ignored her and turned to James. Still gasping heavily, he said clearly, "There's been an attack uptown. Death Eaters and possibly Voldemort are all over the place. We need as many licensed Aurors, practicing or not, to help fight. Coming?"

Lily's heart froze. "_This couldn't be happening,"_ she though desperately. _"Not now, not now that I'm about to tell him that I love him"._ But she managed to say in her same strong voice, "But what about the rest of the Order who aren't Aurors? Can't we help fight too?"

Sirius shook his head. "Dumbledore and Moody don't want to risk it. We want as many safe Order members as possible; if everyone goes to fight at once, Voldemort will know for sure who are involved in the Order". He gave Lily an apologetic look and turned once more to James, who was now wearing the same grim expression. "Coming, James?"

"Yeah, I am, come on," James spoke, determination hardening his voice.

"Be careful, the both of you," Lily managed to choke out amidst her alarm.

James turned to her and, seeing her pale and worried expression, said softly, "Hey, don't worry, we'll both be fine, I promise. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?" And with that, he and Sirius left.

_Be careful James, I love you_, Lily thought fleetingly as she stared out the open door, until she went and Apparated to her own house.

..------..

Lily was panicking.

It had been roughly an hour since Sirius had announced the attack, and she was worried to death. Still wearing the same outfit she had worn when she met with James, she paced back and forth, a million thoughts running through her head.

"Is it over? Are they alright? Is James alright?" Lily kept on thinking as she walked around. A few minutes later, she stopped herself, saying, "Come on Lily, get a grip on yourself. James and the others are fine, don't worry about them. Relax".

She gave a long sigh and walked over to her kitchen to make a cup of coffee for herself. Once that was done, she sat down on her table, nursing her cup.

Minutes later, she still sat there, the same thoughts running through her head, her cup just sitting there, still quite full. She had tried to drink, but she had found it hard to swallow, like there was a lump in her throat, and once she managed to swallow it, there was a bitter taste left in her mouth and the effort alone exhausted her.

Fate was cruel, she decided. It hated her. After all, why would it let James go to play hero at the exact moment that she was about to tell him that she loved him?

Suddenly, her musings were interrupted when there was a loud crack heard on her apartment, and Lily turned to find Remus Lupin in front of her, wearing a grim and sad expression.

"Remus!" Lily cried, running over to him. "Is it over? Is everyone alright? Are Sirius and James alright?"

"Lily," Remus said, as if he didn't want to continue. "The fight finished a few minutes ago, Voldemort was able to escape. Sirius got a deep wound, but he's otherwise fine and is being treated at St. Mungo's right now".

"And James?" she said, her voice barely above a fearful whisper.

Remus sighed, looking sad to be the bringer of such bad news. "Lily, James was hurt pretty bad. Four Cruciatus curses and a variety of other Dark spells hit him and an Avada almost hit him. He's at St. Mungo's right now, his vital signs are unstable, and he's unconscious. And…….." his voice trailed off.

"And?" Lily said, her voice cracking with emotion.

"And…." Remus sighed deeply before continuing, "There's a fifty-fifty chance that he'd still be able to survive".

Hearing this, Lily Evans fell to the floor in a dead faint.

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**Well? How was that for drama, again? This story gets to become sadder and sadder, I better go change the category, it isn't very humorous now. The first part was kinda pointless, in my opinion, but I loved writing the last bit. **

**The next chapter will be sweet, in a way. After this, only two more chapters left, I think. Please read and review, everyone! Until then………**


	14. The Miracle of Three Little Words

**I Never Gave Up**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except a few characters you don't recognize. The rest belongs to the great genius, J.K. Rowling.

**Note:** THANK YOU so much to my readers and reviewers, fifteen reviews is the most I've gotten for any chapter for any story I've ever written, _ever_. It means a lot to me that you got me past the 100 review mark, thank you once again.

Chapter Fourteen

**The Miracle of Three Little Words **

"Lily? Lily? Talk to me, Lily!"

As the world suddenly became clearer into view, Lily groaned a bit as she waited for a few seconds for her vision to become clearer. Feeling something like a headache coming on, she pressed her hand to her forehead and met the concerned eyes of Remus Lupin, and to her surprise, Sarah Anderson and Sirius Black, who was sporting a gauze on his face.

"What happened to me?" she asked, her voice still a bit hoarse as struggled to sit upright, her hand still on her forehead.

"You fainted," Remus told her, handing her a glass of water, which she gratefully took. "Not surprising, given the week you've just had, and now, with all that happened to James and………."

Lily felt the world spin all over again and she sank deeper into the chair. "James……" she murmured, the words dying on her lips in a mere whisper. The moment she thought his name, her dizziness suddenly left her, and she suddenly stood up with such alertness that her friends were surprised and quite alarmed.

"Sirius, how is he?" she asked him, urgently.

Sirius shook his head, "Not very good, last time I checked. His vital signs are partly stable, and he's still unconscious. Sometimes he acts as if he's waking up, but then his body jerks spasmodically, and he lapses back into being on the brink of……well, his body seems to fight everything the Healers give him, an aftereffect of some spell a Death Eater shot. It all depends on whether he wakes up or not……" His voice trailed off; he couldn't bear to say any more.

"I need to see him," Lily said, her voice strong and any trace of fatigue gone from her features. Sarah, Sirius, and Remus exchanged apprehensive looks.

"Um, Lily," Sarah began, fidgeting with her fingers nervously. "I—I don't think that's such a good idea, you just woke up and………"

"Yeah, you've had a rough few days. Seeing James right now, in a possibly unstable condition, might just make you faint all over again, you're too stressed out," Sirius added, not minding the angry look that was steadily forming on Lily's face.

"Sirius is right, Lily, why don't you get some sleep, and you can go visit James in the morning," Remus suggested in what he hoped for was a helpful tone.

Lily had enough. She took her arm out of Sarah's grasp and snapped, "I need to see him, I have to see him, I demand that we go now!"

"Lily, calm down-----" Sirius tried to say.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN! Sirius, the man who loves me is in the hospital, unconscious and fighting for his life, not knowing that I feel the same way about him that he feels for me, and your asking me to CALM DOWN!" Lily practically exploded in her friends' faces. To their immense surprise, she suddenly slumped back onto her couch and her tears began to flow freely down her cheeks, her heart aching more than she could have possibly imagined, a lump in her throat.

Her friends looked at each other in dismay. "Guys, leave us alone for a few minutes, I need to talk to her," Sirius told them very quietly. Remus and Sarah gave him a questioning glance, but he merely shot them a meaningful glance in response. The two nodded and went to the balcony for awhile.

"Lily," Sirius said gently as he sat down beside the sobbing woman and put a comforting arm around her. "Shh, it's going to be alright, he's going to fine".

"Repeat that to me again once you know for certain," was all Lily said as she buried her head in her hands. She continued sobbing for awhile then turned to Sirius. "Sirius, it's not fair, it's just not fair! I was going to tell him that I loved him and now, I may never get the chance to!"

"Lily, life is never fair, we have to deal with that," Sirius said in the same quiet, comforting tone. "But there's still hope. Don't give up on him, Lily, you didn't before, now isn't the time to start".

"Sirius………"

"You know, I've got something to tell you," he said, giving her a sad smile which Lily didn't like at all. "Me and James, we….were fighting, side by side, it was brutal. Spells, bodies everywhere. He got hit really badly by the last spell, because he was trying to save a little boy that had accidentally got caught in the cross fire," he sighed deeply and continued, "'Tell Lily I love her'. That was the last thing he said to me, right before he lost consciousness. Even in a life or death situation, he was still thinking of you, he was fighting for you, and now……."

"I have to fight for him," Lily said softly, her tears subsiding. "I have to be strong for him, I have to talk to him, Sirius. I know that he may not hear me, but I still have to see him to, just, say whatever I need to, because there might not be another time. Please let me go tonight".

Sirius shook his head. "Lily, I realize that, but you're still feeling a bit weak, and your not exactly fit to go to St. Mungo's in that state and---".

"Sirius, you're his best friend. You know him better than anyone else, you know how much he loves me. And now it's about time for me to tell him that I love him too. Who knows?" For the first time in many hours, she gave a semblance of a smile. "He might wake up".

Sirius looked at Lily searchingly, trying to find any hint of hesitation, of doubt. There was none. And so, with a determined glint in his eye, he stood up and helped her up, saying, "Alright. Let's go".

..------..

The trip going to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was more nerve-wracking than Lily or any of them could have ever imagined. They had taken the Knight Bus to town, seeing as there were strict laws as of now not to let anyone Apparate inside the hospital.

Once they had entered the hospital, they rushed into the lobby and the receptionist said in a bored voice, "Welcome to St. Mungo's, how may I help you?"

"We're here to see James Potter, he's one of the injured during the Death Eater attack," Lily said hurriedly, getting impatient.

The receptionist checked something in her files and said, "Mr. Potter is in one of the private rooms. He's on the third floor, east wing, last room down the hall". Lily and the rest nodded her thanks and they went as quickly as they could without running to where the nurse had said they could find James.

Lily, who was first, found Mr. and Mrs. Potter sitting along with Chelsea outside a room, all three looking very exhausted. The moment James's mother saw Lily, the two women rushed over to each other and embraced.

"How is he, Mrs. Potter?" Lily asked, now quite fearful that she would be given a negative answer. To her relief, James's mother managed a wan smile.

"He's stable, thank goodness. But still unconscious, he hasn't shown any signs of waking up in the past hour, and that alone is fatal," Mrs. Potter paused and said, "Wait, what took you lot so long to get here anyway?"

Remus cast a sideways glance at Lily and explained, "Well, upon hearing the news, Lily….she fainted. She just woke up awhile ago, demanding that we allow her to leave her house so she could see James". Mr. and Mrs. Potter gave a low chuckle at her assertiveness. Chelsea, on the other hand, was quietly talking to Sirius.

Lily turned to his parents. "Can I go in and see him? Just for a few minutes, this is important; I need to talk to him".

His parents exchanged looks. "Well dear, it's not that we don't want you to see James, but he is unconscious and he…..well, he can't hear a word that you're going to say. Besides, you need to rest; you look dead on your feet," Mrs. Potter told her.

Lily sighed and said, "With all due respect, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, but I certainly don't give a damn about myself as of the moment. I love your son, and I need to tell him that, now".

After what seemed like an eternity, Mr. Potter finally smiled at her and said, "Well then, by all means, go inside. Maybe your little confession will be just the thing to wake him up". Lily gave a grateful smile to the two parents before she took a deep breath and entered James's room.

The room was quite spacious, and dimly lit. The articles found there were simple, and at the very center lay James on the bed, breathing steadily and looking dead to the world. She went to his bedside and just looked at him for a few moments, faint traces of tears showing in her eyes.

He looked deathly pale, and there was no movement coming from him. He was breathing, but other than that there was no indication that he was alive. There were bruises on his face and arms.

Ignoring the churning feeling in her stomach, she whispered his name. "Hi James……" she said softly, willing herself not to cry. She had to be strong, no matter how hard that felt.

In a much stronger voice she said, gazing at his still form, "You promised me that you and Sirius were going to be alright, that we would talk tomorrow. You broke your promise, James, look at you! Sirius is hurt too, but he's okay. Please don't break your promise further by not waking up".

Just saying the words, hearing herself say those words was enough to make the next things she said come out in a more strangled, emotional voice. Choking back tears, she continued, "You said that you would hear what I would say tomorrow. Well, I need to say it now, even though I know you can't hear me".

She sat down on the chair next to his bed and took his hand, which was still surprisingly warm, in hers. "I'm sorry, James, I'm sorry I acted like a complete coward when you said that you loved me. I'm so sorry for not giving you a chance, for screwing things up between us. It tore me apart, you know, I couldn't look back on what happened without crying".

"Then I got to thinking, why am I so affected? I mean, sure, I ruined our friendship, but why was I feeling so much guilt, and misery? I mean, all I felt for you was friendship, right?" Lily sighed and continued, "Then….something made me realize, all this time, the entire time we were friends, I knew that there was something else between us, something that was more than friendship. But I was too much of a wimp to acknowledge it".

"When we kissed, I wanted more. When you told me you loved me, I was scared of you hurting me, but I was more afraid of me hurting you. I couldn't ignore it any longer, James. I was in love with you, I just didn't have the guts to come out and tell you. And that scared me, more than you could ever know".

In her palm, James hand suddenly twitched lightly, but Lily, too overcome by emotion, felt nothing and simply held on to his hand like it was her lifeline. There were tears rolling down her cheeks now, but she hardly noticed them.

"But then I found the courage to tell you, Sirius and Kelsey helped me to understand that everything was going to be fine. I knew right then that I had to make things right. But, Fate is cruel, and the moment I was about to tell you, the attack came and you went to play hero. It was agonizing for me to see you walk out that door, but I knew that I would be selfish if I held you back".

"James, you told me that night that you never gave up on me. Well now, I am begging you, with all the love that you feel for me, with all the love I feel for you, please, this time, don't give up on yourself. If you won't do it for me, do it for everyone else who loves you, everyone who is outside that door, waiting for you to wake up. Please, James, you can pull through this, I know you can," Lily was sobbing freely now.

"I almost lost you once, I refuse to lose you again. Prove to me that you really love me James," her tone was now fierce, desperation and anger in her tone. "Don't give up on me, don't you dare give up on me, James Potter because I sure as hell won't be giving up on you anytime soon, I love you!"

She buried her head into his sheet, crying freely now, her hand still clutching his. His hand twitched again, but once again, she felt nothing. She stayed like that for a few minutes, before she went into a proper sitting position. She released his hand and stood up, trying to dry her tears. She looked at the man she loved one more time before she leaned in and kissed his forehead.

Lily closed her eyes to stop another wave of tears as she left his bedside. Her heart ached, and it was evident that she had been crying, but she needed to be strong. She had said everything she had wanted to say. She dried her tears as she walked as slowly as she could in going outside. It was not until she was half-way out that Lily heard something that made her feel as if her heart had stopped.

"_I—I love you too, Lily,"_ came a strangled, exhausted whisper that, for some reason, could still be heard throughout the room. Hardly daring to believe what she had just heard, she rushed back into James's bedside and a fresh wave of tears came over to her.

There was James, still bruised and in pain, but awake. He groaned slightly as he came to complete consciousness and after all that settled and he was in a normal state, he turned to look at the sobbing Lily.

"Don't cry," he whispered softly, raising her head so that she would look at him. "I'm fine. I'm little bruised and hurting, but fine".

"You jerk," Lily was saying wildly as the tears continued to flow. "You selfish, arrogant jerk! How could you do something so dangerous and make me—us—worry so much!"

James chuckled, but stopped once he found that it hurt his stomach. "It's called work, Lily," he said. "Please don't cry, I hate seeing you cry". Lily gave a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob but she subsided after a few more minutes.

"I'm just….so glad you're alright……." Lily said, looking at him, smiling.

"Much better," James said, seeing her smile.

There was silence. There was still so much to say, but somehow, they could not find the words. They just stared at each other and in that moment, both parties understood what the other had wanted to say.

"I….I better tell your parents that you're alright," Lily told him softly, and somewhat reluctantly, breaking the silence. "But we will talk later, once you get settled, okay? I love you," James nodded and Lily gave him another look before leaving the room to break the joyous news to the rest of the people there.

There was a sound of relieved crying, and a rousing cheer, and James Potter smiled as he thought about what had happened just a few hours ago. Ever since Lily had ran out on him, he thought that his life was worthless, that she wouldn't care anymore what would happen to him.

But now, he was thinking that life was not so bad after all.

..------..

"Did you really hear everything I said to you?" Lily asked James quietly as he held on to her hand. After everyone had came to see him, and the Healers had done a check and pronounced that he was definitely out of danger, except for the bruises, Lily and Sirius had volunteered to stay over and look after him for the night, but right now, Sirius was out and they were alone.

James shook his head. He was sitting up in bed now, and Lily was sitting beside him. "Not everything, though I have a feeling that it was a long speech". At this, Lily laughed and gave him a look. "But you know what, Lily?" he said softly, reaching out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "All I heard were the words, 'I love you', and frankly….that was all I needed to hear".

"Aww….that's so sweet," Lily cooed, smiling. They sat in silence for awhile, but then James broke it.

"Lily……" he said quietly. "Did you really mean what you said? I mean, about you loving me? Or was it just a ploy to try to get me to wake up?"

She glared at him. "Do you really think that I would make up something like that? Of course I love you, James. If I didn't know before, I know it now".

James smiled softly at her. "I love you too". Suddenly, he said, a grin forming on his face. "You know what? This is just like some of the muggle movies we're watched before. You know, guy gets into a life or death situation, and then the girl admits to him that she's in love with him while he's unconscious, then he miraculously wakes up and every thing is fine and dandy".

"I guess so," Lily said. When she saw him wince when his elbow accidentally connected with the table, she asked, "So, how are you feeling right now?"

"Well, considering that I almost died, then got woken up when you told me that you loved me, pretty darn good," James told her dryly. Lily rolled her eyes as he continued, "You know, just like in the movies, I would have asked you to marry me already, but unfortunately, I don't have a ring". He looked at her apologetically.

Lily stared at him, shocked. So he had entertained the idea of marriage already? Whoa. Yet she knew that if he were ever to ask, _properly_, she would say yes. But not now, it was just too soon. She laughed slightly and said, "One step at a time, James, one step at a time".

"You're right," James said, a slow grin forming on his face. "Because I just remembered the part that comes before the guy asks the girl to marry him". And with that, he leaned in closer, and Lily, knowing and anticipating what was going to happen next, leaned in and closed her eyes.

Her heart was beating fast and she could feel fireworks as his lips landed on hers, in a sweet kiss that was still full of passion, love, and everything else in between. Once they pulled away from each other, they smiled.

James leaned in to steal another kiss again, but at that instant, the door suddenly opened and Sirius Black burst in the room right in the middle of everything.

"Hey Prongs, hey Lily, just wanted to see how your doing and---- okay, since it seems as if I have the worst timing and you're in the middle of something, don't let me interrupt you. I'll be outside," Sirius said hurriedly. The two laughed, and once they heard a click on the door, they smiled to each other as James finished what he was about to do.

Once they pulled away from each other, James asked her, "Well, would you at least be my girlfriend?"

Lily smiled and said, "Yes, James, I will". He smiled and they began to talk. First about themselves until their conversation topic then turned into nothing serious, just whatever crossed their minds. James was increasingly gaining back his nature of being talkative, and they just had a wonderful time together, knowing that everything was now fixed.

Two hours later, and James was sleeping peacefully on the bed, in a normal state of slumber. Lily went out and found Sirius asleep on the benches. She shook her head and went back inside. And as she observed the love of her life from her seat near the window, she smiled, wondering what future she had now that she and James were together. She looked at him again, and felt her heart flutter in her chest.

_"Yes,"_ she thought, still smiling. _"Everything is going to be alright after all". _

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**I promised that this would be sweet; I hoped it lived up to whatever expectations you might have. I quite liked this chapter, although there were some parts I couldn't really understand, but I need your opinion too. Please read and review!**

**So, one more chapter to go. I'm still wondering what to do for the last chapter, since I'm not totally decided yet. But I promise that it's going to be soon. But until then, peace and much love…….. **


	15. A Perfect Ending

**I Never Gave Up**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except a few characters you don't recognize. The rest belongs to the great genius, J.K. Rowling.

**Note:** THANK YOU so much to my readers and reviewers, seventeen reviews is the most I've gotten for any chapter for any story I've ever written, _ever_. It means a lot to me that you got me past the 100 review mark, thank you once again. Now, this is the last chapter, I hope that you will like this one.

Chapter Fifteen

**A Perfect Ending**

"You're WHAT!"

This was the dumbfounded sentence that came out of Lily's mouth as she stared at her boyfriend, James, in utter disbelief one March morning. It had been two months since everything had happened, and the two had already settled comfortably, until James dropped a bombshell on her.

"Yes, Lily, I'm resigning as Head of the Criminal Law Department. Moody wants me to go back to being a full-time Auror, and I accepted," James explained from his desk, looking very calm.

"Bu-but, why didn't you at least tell me before you passed your resignation to Tyler?" Lily walked over to him and glared, folding her arms.

"Because I knew that you'd be upset about it. Look, Lily, calm down, we'll still get to see each other every day," James reassured her, standing up and fixing her with an assuring glance.

Lily sighed in defeat and said, "Alright, I know, I know, it's just that….I'll never get to see you anytime I want, and for all I know, you might be gallivanting off with some leggy blonde when I'm not around".

The corners of James's mouth quirked upwards as he said slowly, his grin turning into a smirk, "Lily, are you saying that you're jealous?"

"Yes, maybe," Lily grumbled, refusing to meet his eyes. James burst into uncontrollable laughter, which made her glare at him even more. "What is so funny?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

"Nothing," James said amidst gales of laughter. "It's just that I've never seen you jealous before, it's a side of you I've never seen. But," his laughter subsiding into a grin as he walked over to her. "I like it". And with that he gave her a hug.

"It's our anniversary this Saturday," Lily murmured as she pulled away somewhat reluctantly from his embrace.

James turned to look at her. "I know, I haven't forgotten. Two months of being together, the longest I've ever held onto a girlfriend". When Lily playfully punched his arm he winced and said, "That hurt, you know".

"And I'm supposed to care, why?"

"Because you hurt that spot on my arm where the Death Eater shot me with a spell," James told her, grimacing. Instantly, Lily looked concerned and guilty.

"Sorry," Lily said, looking apologetic. James merely waved off her apology as he sat down.

"No need to worry," James said. "About my arm and about our anniversary. I've got it planned, down to the last detail".

"Really?" Lily quirked an eyebrow. "Please tell me that you didn't buy tickets to a Quidditch Match, because, even though I love you, I cannot stand watching people fly in the air to look for some flying balls for more than an hour," she begged him, groaning.

Her boyfriend grinned and replied, "Nope, I didn't, although that does sound like a good idea". At her glare, he quickly added, "But I can't tell you yet, it's a surprise. But I know that you're going to love it". Lily merely gave him a suspicious glance but said nothing.

"Hey, I've got to go, I have a meeting with a new client in fifteen minutes," Lily suddenly said as she checked her watch. James nodded and leaned in to steal a kiss when the door suddenly opened and, as usual, Sirius walked in.

"Hey James I---okay, this is the……fifth time I've walked in on both of you in two months, so as usual, I'm just gonna go. Meet me later," Sirius said in an obviously disgusted voice.

James and Lily laughed as Lily said, "Stay, Sirius, I was just about to leave anyway".

"And see the both of you lip-lock before you leave? Urgh, no way, thanks. I'll wait outside," Sirius said as he left, closing the door behind him.

The couple laughed again and James kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "Bye," he said as she walked out the door. Once the door closed he gathered some files and went outside as well, walking towards the front of the office until he found Sirius.

"Hey mate," James greeted to his best friend. "What's up?"

"Moody and Tyler want to talk to you, something about your transfer, I think," Sirius said. The two walked to the Auror department, talking. "So mate," Sirius asked him. "All set for this Saturday?"

"Yes, of course, everything is all planned and ready," James said in a firm voice. Then his tone faltered as he said to Sirius in an undertone, "Now the only question is whether the outcome will be favorable or not".

Knowing exactly what he meant, Sirius simple nodded as they finally arrived at the Auror department.

..------..

"You cannot be serious, please tell me that you're joking," Lily said, looking at James with an incredulous stare for the second time that day. James had just gotten back from his audience with Moody and Tyler, and he was there to break some news to her again.

"I'm afraid I'm perfectly serious, Lily," James said, looking calm yet wondering why Lily didn't look very happy. "They are promoting you as Head of the Criminal Law department. You're taking my place". When she said nothing, he asked, "Lily? Aren't you happy?"

As Lily staggered into the nearest seat, she said, "Of course I am, I've wanted to be promoted for some time, but….I'm just in shock. I mean, everything is happening so fast".

"I know," James sighed as he remembered something else. "Listen, Lily, I have something else to tell you. About this Saturday…….I…well, Moody wants me here on that day to work on something, and I won't be released until the afternoon, so probably the only thing we'll get to do is have dinner. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't relent".

Lily gave a disappointed sigh. "Oh. Too bad, I was looking forward to spending the day with you. But I understand, it's no problem". She gave him a half-smile.

"Don't worry, if it's any consolation, dinner will be wonderful. So I'll meet you at seven at your house, okay?" James said. Lily nodded as she stood up and left, leaving James to ponder on the minor setback.

..------..

The sunlight streamed into the room as Lily Evans awoke that Saturday morning. Still yawning and stretching her arms, she sat up in bed. She was immediately stunned by the sight before her.

Her room was covered with hundreds upon thousands of rose and lily petals and in the table in the corner was a big bouquet of lilies. Soft music from an invisible violin played her favorite love song in the distance. But the thing, or rather, person, that she found standing in the doorway brought a smile to her lips the best of all.

"James!" she cried, jumping out of the covers and rushed over to her boyfriend, putting on her robe in the process. "Wha-what are you doing here so early? I thought we didn't have plans until this evening".

"Who said we needed to have plans just for me to see you?" James grinned as he engulfed her in a hug and kissed her cheek. "Happy Anniversary, Lily".

Lily smiled up at him. "Same to you too. James, this is so sweet but, you really shouldn't have. Aren't you supposed to be at the Ministry today? Didn't Moody want to see you?"

"I do have to go to meet with him, but I couldn't resist seeing and surprising you," James replied, staring into her emerald green eyes.

Lily didn't say anything. She extracted herself from his embrace with some hesitation. "You sure do know how to flatter someone. Go on; I'll meet you in the kitchen in a couple of minutes". James nodded, and went. Lily then proceeded to head to the shower.

Around twenty minutes or so, she came out of her bedroom and headed to the kitchen to find, much to her surprise, an entire breakfast of pancakes with syrup, bacon and eggs, fresh fruits, and other foodstuffs, as well as a pitcher of orange juice.

"James," she said, unable to hide the surprise from her voice, "First the flowers, and now this? Did you make all this? I didn't know you could cook".

James threw her a grin. "Actually, I didn't. I let Ellie, my parent's house- elf, cook this since I can't cook anything this good to save my life. I just unpacked everything".

Lily gave a mock-sigh of dismay. "Oh well. So much for you being sentimental and sweet. But it's probably best since I might be sick from eating your so- called 'breakfast', if you had made it". She gave him a teasing smile.

James replied, looking insulted but amused at the same time, "Hey! I will have you know that I am just about to perfect the art of making pasta!"

Lily simply shook head, an amused expression set on her face. "So," she said, changing the subject, "What are we doing for tonight?"

James merely smiled in a mysterious way. "You'll see," was his vague answer. Lily frowned a bit but said nothing.

He just smiled at her as they continued their breakfast. Once they were over, Lily did a quick cleaning spell on the dishes and with the wave of her wand, they went back to the shelves.

They both stood up and James said, "Well, I'd better go, I'll see you at seven, okay?" Lily kissed his cheek and nodded.

"Bye," she said softly as he apparated out, leaving her to think. The entire time he was there, she couldn't help but feel a slightly nervous aura coming from him, and she couldn't understand why. It wasn't like him.

Shaking her head to rid herself of those thoughts, she went back to her bedroom to choose her dress, anticipating the night ahead.

..------..

It was a quarter to seven, and Lily was in a flutter of excitement. She had combed through her wardrobe and settled on a royal blue dress with a gossamer covering. It had a small jeweled lily-of-the-valley broach pinned to the side. After taking her wand to twist her hair into an elegant bun held with pearls and small rosettes, she took another look at her reflection and left her room.

Lily waited anxiously for him to arrive, pacing back and forth, not able to keep still. She was excited, because she wanted out find out why James looked and sounded a bit nervous, and because she just wanted to see him again.

After ten minutes of waiting, her doorbell rang and she practically skipped to the door. Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob and opened the door to reveal James, who was holding a bouquet of pink and white roses in his hand.

"I thought that lilies were a bit cliché," James said as he walked inside and handed the roses to her. "What with the name resemblance and everything".

"They're lovely, James, thank you," she said softly as she placed the bouquet in the nearest vase she could find.

"Well, we'd better go," James said, taking a small matchbox out of his pocket. Lily was about to touch it, but James stopped her. "Wait, first, I have to blindfold you. To make it more surprising". Lily rolled her eyes but still allowed James to slip a blindfold over her eyes.

That being done, he took Lily's hand in his and they both touched the small matchbox. In a sudden swirl of blue light, there was a strangled noise, and they were gone.

..------..

Lily stumbled onto something powdery as she arrived at their destination. She could feel arms pulling her up, and she figured that it was James helping her to stand properly. Straining her ears, she could hear a nice, calming swishing swaying sound, and she smiled.

James was leading her somewhere, she just couldn't see where. The air was a bit cold, and the atmosphere was feeling calm. Breathing slowly, she allowed herself to be led across the floor, or whatever it was.

Suddenly, James came to a stop, willing Lily to stop walking as well. "Ready?" James whispered. Lily nodded and closed her eyes for awhile, to heighten her excitement. James untied the blindfold, and once he told her to open her eyes, she did, and once she saw the sight before her, she gasped.

They were on a beach, the beach James took her when they had their first dinner together, to be exact. Only now in front of them was a small table set for two, with a candelabra at the center, from which glowed a soft light. There were also little lights hanging about, looking as if they were suspended in mid air, but in the dark, you could never tell for sure. The soft waves crashing onto the shore, coupled with the slow breeze and an invisible violin that was playing in the distance made for wonderful scenery.

"I….I…..it's beautiful," Lily said softly as she and James sat. James grinned, turned to his plate and said what he wanted to eat. Instantly, his food of choice appeared. Seeing this, Lily followed suit and they began to eat amidst the sea-spraying breeze and lovely strains of music.

Once they were finished eating, James asked, "Want to go for a walk?" Lily nodded and the couple stood up. Taking his offered hand, Lily and James walked across the sand-stretched beach, talking softly, oblivious to anything but each other. After while, they decided to sit down and James placed his arm around Lily's shoulder and she leaned in to his embrace.

"Remember this beach? This was the place I took you to after we had our first date," James said, referring to the time wherein they had their first dinner together.

Lily looked at him with a teasing glance. "I thought you said that that wasn't a date. I thought you said that that just a ….wait, ah yes, a 'dinner between two friends who got involved in a bet'".

"Well," James said, grinning at her. "To put it plainly……I lied". Lily gave him a mock-exasperated glance as she shook her head. They basked in the wonderful silence for awhile, the only sound to be heard being their gentle breathing and the soft lull of the crashing waves.

James was thinking deeply, wondering if this was the right time. Nodding mentally, he reached into his pocket and encircled in his fist a small object. He turned to Lily.

"I love you," he whispered softly, gazing up at her emerald eyes which were still as bright and expressive as ever.

"I love you too," Lily whispered back as she stared into his eyes as well, her heart strangely beating faster.

Knowing that this was the right time, James leaned in a bit closer and whispered, "Do you love me enough to marry me?"

Lily pulled away in surprise. She gazed at him, a ghost of a smile fitted across her lips. "Wh-what did you just say?"

James gave a sigh and showed her his outstretched palm, in the center of which lay a small, blue velvet box. "Lily, the past two months have been the greatest in my entire life. I love you so much, and I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone but you. Will you make me the most elated person on the planet and marry me?"

He opened the box to reveal a beautiful gold ring, with an intricately cut diamond at the center. Lily stared at it in shock as she struggled to find her voice, James waiting expectantly for her answer.

"I….I guess I only have one answer for this, James," Lily said softly, not breaking eye contact as she found her voice, her eyes brimming with light tears. "Yes, yes, I will marry you".

At that instant, James captured her lips with hers, in a kiss that marked everything final, in a gesture full of love and honesty. Once they pulled away from each other, they both smiled as James slipped the ring on her finger and drew her into a hug as they both admired the ring.

It was a perfect fit, just like James and she, and it seemed like they were really both made for each other.

They sat there for some time, talking, contemplating about the life ahead of them, all the while staring at each other, expressing most of what they had wanted to say through their eyes. He took her hand in his, and they both looked at each other with a look only two people who were deeply in love could achieve.

Their future had many to hold for them. They knew of the happiness it would bring, of the hope, of the love. Yet they also knew of the danger they would be getting into, with the impending threat of Voldemort and every other evil thing surrounding them. Both knew that with happiness came pain, and that there would be many more trials and tribulations to come their way.

But they weren't afraid. _Let the problems come_, they thought, _it would be nothing, as long as we fight them together._ They were now about to be married, about to share their lives with each other, to fight all of their battles as one. They were about to be together for the rest of their lives, to love and to never give up on each other until they both drew their last breath.

And right then and there, the both of them realized that that was all that mattered.

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**There! I Never Gave Up is finally finished! Thank you so much to all the people who have studiously read and reviewed my story, your support and compliments helped and inspired me to give my best in writing. **

**Now, I have a question: Would you like me to write a sequel? Please indicate so in your review, and if you do want me to write, which one of these plots are more favorable to you?**

**a. They were now engaged, and everything was perfect. Then wedding plans start getting sabotaged, and that, coupled with personality clashes as they discover their differences make for a bumpy road to the altar. Will they ever get married in one piece, or will their 'I do's' turn into 'I don'ts'?**

**b. Lily and James were now married, about to start a family, everything was going great. But the shadow of war, of Voldemort looms over them, especially after they learn about the prophecy. Continues until they die. **

**Which one of these do you like? Please tell me. And thank you again, everyone, it's been a wonderful time writing this story. Now this is angelstarshine, signing off for the second time……..**


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